NCAA also uses the tagline ‘March Madness’ for women’s basketball

The lucrative marketing tagline “March Madness,” long used by the NCAA to brand the Division I college men’s basketball tournament, will also be used next year to promote the premier league for men. female.

The change, announced Wednesday, is a response to widespread criticism that the NCAA has altered the women’s league for years, creating a gender divide in college sports. hinder the development of women’s basketball.

The inclusion of “March Madness” in the promotion of the Division I women’s tournament was one of several suggestions from an outside review of the NCAA championships that were prompted by complaints during the men’s and women’s tournaments last year. 2021.

Tournaments are held concurrently in restricted environments because of the coronavirus pandemic – men compete in and around Indianapolis, while women’s tournaments are concentrated in San Antonio. In most years, the first two rounds of the women’s tournament are played at the home turf of the top teams, while the men play at neutral courts.

Report, Released in August and prepared by the firm of civil rights attorney Roberta A. Kaplan, says:

“The NCAA’s broadcast agreements, corporate sponsorship deals, revenue distribution, organizational structure, and culture all prioritize Division I men’s basketball over everything else in a way that creates, equals normalize and perpetuate gender inequalities. At the same time, the NCAA has no structure or system in place to identify, prevent, or address such inequities.”

The use of the term “March Madness” has long been one of the most obvious distinctions between men’s and women’s tournaments, both its use on CBS broadcasts during men’s and women’s tournaments. its presence on the NCAA’s website and social media platforms solely depicts the men’s game. (The women’s basketball tournament is televised by ESPN.)

David Worlock, the NCAA’s director of communications coordination for the men’s basketball tournament, said the association hopes to create a “March Madness” logo for the women’s tournament that is similar to the one for the men’s tournament but with a split Special for easy fans to identify each league as they are promoted.

Worlock acknowledged that the rebranding was made in accordance with the gender equality report and said the NCAA and its staff were “reviewing all of the different factors that were raised in the report”.

A $600 million drop in revenue due to the men’s tournament being canceled in 2020, the report said, leaving NCAA officials to focus heavily on how the men’s tournament will recover, harming for the women’s tournament or not.

Sedona Prince of Oregon started a wave of criticism about league inequality when she complained about the sparse weightlifting equipment in Texas, comparing what was offered to what was being offered to men.

Investigators also discovered differences between tournaments in the quality of food, lounges and even gift bags provided to players.

Following public scrutiny, NCAA officials apologized for their mistakes and its president, Mark Emmert, then admit it that it also used cheaper, less reliable coronavirus tests for the women’s league.

The NCAA says it also plans to change the way tournaments are funded. Instead of working with budgets from previous years, the men’s and women’s basketball staff will start from scratch in determining costs to approve each year. The NCAA said it hopes the move will resolve differences in fund allocation and make the two championships “financially fairer”.

In March, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association – which includes the top coaches in women’s college basketball – meeting with NCAA executives to address how the association promotes women’s basketball. Danielle Donehew, the organization’s executive director, said in an email that the “March Madness” branding was among the many concerns the organization raised with the NCAA afterward.

“This is a great first step in unifying the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championships under one powerful and exciting brand,” said Donehew.