The number of women competing at the highest level of college athletics continues to rise – along with an increasing funding gap between men’s and women’s sports programs, according to an NCAA report examining the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
The report, released Thursday morning and titled “The State of Women in College Sports,” found 47.1% of participation opportunities were for women across Division I in 2020 compared to 26.4% in 1982.
Amid that growth, though, men’s programs received more than double that of women’s programs in allocated resources in 2020 – and that gap was even more pronounced when looking at the most highly profitable revenue-generating sports for schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the top tier within Division I that features programs such Alabama, Ohio State and Southern California.
Amy Wilson, NCAA managing director for the office of inclusion, was the lead author of the report.
“It tells you schools are investing a huge amount of money in the moneymakers,” Wilson told The Associated Press, referring to football as the primary revenue-generating sport along with men’s basketball. “It speaks to the business side of what college sports has become.”