I begin this column with a faint feeling of fear. Anytime a male broaches this subject, they are smacked back into their place. But for the record, let it be known that I'm not calling for the abolition of Division I women's sports. I am merely calling for equality.
Title IX was started to give female athletes the same opportunities as men. The rule states that there should be equality in the number of male and female athletes at each school. This not only impedes an athletic department's growth and ability to make a larger profit, but also takes away opportunities from male athletes in second-tier sports.
A quick search of Title XI on Google brings up the Web site, American.edu, which explains the rule thusly: "Title IX is designed to create parity in athletic opportunity and quality of experience for men and women. It is a school's choice to cut men's programs in an effort to comply with the law or to meet budget constraints."
There's a lot of garbage there, so let's take it to the dumpster piece by piece.
College athletics is a business; the goal is to make money, not to create parity. Women's athletics should definitely be present in college programs. But it is unreasonable to say that the women's field hockey team deserves the exact same treatment as the football team; the millions of dollars in revenue generated by football tends to be spent at least in part on funds for less crowd-popular sports.
While it may be the school's decision to cut a men's sport, many schools are forced to do so to comply with the rule, and it's na??ve to think otherwise. This rule basically says that second- tier male sports are not as important as women's sports, which if you ask me, reeks of hypocrisy.
Due to its proximity to Canada and Buffalo's love for the sport, UB would be a great fit for a Division I hockey team. In fact, it already has a club ice hockey team that is consistently a top squad. Because of Title IX, however, hockey remains a club sport.
Before Buffalo Athletic Director Warde Manuel came to the position, Buffalo hired Gene Corrigan, a respected man with several years of service in different positions throughout the NCAA, to analyze how the department could bring in more wins and a larger profit. His answer was to consider installing sports that are native to the region, such as hockey and lacrosse. He also suggested that Buffalo extricated some of the smaller sports from the program for the time being.
This is where Title IX comes in. In order to fund the hockey team, Buffalo would have to cut a sport to save money. Rowing would be the easy choice. Crew has several dozen athletes on its team and travels across the country to compete in meets. The team plays only one home meet per season, which no one ever knows about.
A simple addition of a hockey team is impossible within the limitations of Title IX. If you were to take away rowing and install hockey, you would need to add two women's sports to UB's roster. One to replace crew, the other to supplement the addition of hockey.
This is an insane and archaic system that was brought about at a time when women's athletics were less than an afterthought. Now women's college basketball has national coverage on a regular basis, and women's tennis is by far more popular than men's. Title IX could use some sprucing up.
My idea would give the athletic departments strict yet reasonable rules that would have to be met in order to maintain status as a Division I school. Every athletic department that wishes to remain D-I must have a women's squad in basketball, soccer, tennis and at least one additional sport of their choosing.
Under my version of Title IX, at least 35 percent of scholarship athletes must be female. Any school that goes above and beyond these minimum qualifications would be rewarded on a sliding scale, either with extra scholarship money or athletic funding.
These rules would keep women's sports intact, and quite possibly help them thrive. With less sports to worry about, the majority of the scholarship and budget money would be going to the sports that the general fan shows interest in, thus increasing the talent level and profitability of women's sports.
Following these rules, it would make sense that Buffalo cut three teams; rowing, softball, and men's tennis, in order to add hockey, and begin the plans to add lacrosse.
Why these teams? Because the weather in Buffalo hinders outdoor spring sports. Softball and crew travel for an inordinate amount of their schedule, with the softball team often visiting destinations such as California and Arizona. Also, because of the weather, it's tough for these sports to practice. Women's sports such as track and field and volleyball, which allow easy indoor practice, have a much better chance of succeeding, thus promoting the university and its athletic department.
I do not want people to take this the wrong way, though I assume many people will. Title IX was meant to bring equality to collegiate sports. To an extent, it has succeeded, yet it now hamstrings athletic departments and limits opportunities for male athletes. It's time for a change.
