Interview: emmert says poor communication led to inequity
championship events.
“We can’t just say we’re in favor or everything being SAN ANTONIO >> Mark Emmert equivalent and fair, acknowledged the we’ve got to make sure glaring failures to give the that’s actually the case coaches and across the board,” Emmert players in said. the women’s The NCAA has been accused tournament the past two weeks the same attention of not providing equal the amenities to the teams in NCAA gave the men’s and women’s Division the men was I basketball tournaments. a result of a Among other lack of communication things, female players, coaches and staff in San between the two basketball Antonio have criticized the staffs along with focusing NCAA for not initially providing on trying to tip off a full weight-training both events safely during a area to the women’s pandemic. teams, noting the men’s
The NCAA president teams in Indianapolis did said the oversights resulted not have the same problem. in overlooking differences “We dropped the ball in that led to inequities San Antonio in the women’s that have cast a dark, basketball tournament,” looming cloud over the Emmert said. women’s tournament. He said now the focus is
“Clearly we should have on making sure it doesn’t had better communication happen again. between my teams,” “We know that we’ve had Emmert said in a 30-minute decades of undervaluing interview with The Associated women’s sports throughout Press on Friday. the entire sports spectrum,” “Clearly we should have Emmert said. “We really had a better focus need to think through how on a number of those details we address that. We need that are hardly details, to think through how we but are really, really want to more aggressively important. support and promote women’s
“The emphasis that sports.” needed to be on health and wellness and the complete and utter focus on how to pull this off in a pandemic led us to get our eye off the ball on a handful of things and that’s really unfortunate. Had we done that better we wouldn’t have had these things emerge.”
The NCAA announced on Thursday that it was hiring a law firm to review potential gender equity issues in all men’s and women’s
The NCAA has also received criticism for using the term March Madness only to promote and brand the men’s tournament. Emmert said the popular nickname could be used for the women’s tournament if organizers and those who support the game want it.
“The mark March Madness isn’t exclusively the men’s basketball mark and it wasn’t intended in that context,” he said. “There has been an ongoing discussion about how to build the women’s basketball brand and how much similarity versus how much distinction is appropriate between the two games.”
While the budget to run the men’s NCAA Tournament in 2018-19 was nearly double that of the women, according to a report in the New York Times, Emmert said those numbers were much closer for this year’s tournaments, with both events being held in one geographic area.
“It has changed for this tournament,” he said. “We spent on the women’s side, about another $16 million on COVID related expenses and less than that on the men’s side.”
Emmert apologized to women’s basketball players. “We failed to deliver the things they earned and deserved,” he said. “Beg them to understand that’s not a reflection of how they are valued and how much we care about their success as athletes and young women.
“It’s been deeply frustrating and disappointing. My staff in San Antonio has been working so unbelievably hard. This should be a moment we’re celebrating the return of college sports. Celebrating our ability to pull off championships in the midst of a pandemic and do it well. Instead we’re having this conversation. It’s disappointing and frustrating for everybody.”
The controversy over the basketball tournament comes as the NCAA is heading toward potentially landscape-changing events for college sports.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in an antitrust case involving the NCAA next week.
Meanwhile, the NCAA is trying to change its rules to allow athletes to earn money from third parties for things such as endorsements and personal appearances, but name, image and likeness reform has bogged down.
Dozens of states are forcing the issue with bills that will grant college athletes NIL rights. The NCAA is asking federal lawmakers for help, but none are in a rush to bail out the association.
At a time when Emmert is facing pressure to guide the NCAA through a tumultuous time, issues with the basketball tournaments have created yet another problem.
He plans to see through.
“My timeline has always been as long as I’m successful in contributing to an enterprise in a meaningful way and my bosses are supportive then I like what I do a lot,” Emmert said. “Nobody likes being in the middle of this. I love working for the NCAA. I’m very proud of all the things that have happened over the past decade.
“We’ve had a bunch of challenges to say the least but there’s no doubt in my mind the NCAA is moving in a good direction despite all of this and as long as my board is supportive I want to keep doing this job.”
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