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“March Madness,” the lucrative marketing slogan the NCAA has long used to brand the Division I men’s college basketball tournament, will also be used to promote the best women’s tournament next year.
The change, announced Wednesday, was a response to widespread criticism that the NCAA had shortened the women’s tournament for years and created a gender divide in varsity sports that hindered the growth of women’s basketball.
The inclusion of “March Madness” in the marketing of the Division I women’s tournament was one of the recommendations of an outside review of the NCAA championships due to complaints during the 2021 men’s and women’s tournaments.
The tournaments were played simultaneously in limited settings due to the coronavirus pandemic – the men’s played in and around Indianapolis, the women’s tournament was in San Antonio. In most years, the first two rounds of the women’s tournament are played at the top teams’ home grounds, while the men’s play these rounds at neutral grounds.
Report, Released in August and civil rights attorney Roberta A. Kaplan’s firm, said:
“The NCAA’s broadcasting agreements, corporate sponsorship agreements, income distribution, organizational structure and culture put Division I men’s basketball above all else in creating, normalizing and perpetuating gender inequalities. At the same time, the NCAA does not have structures or systems in place to detect, prevent or address these disparities.”
The use of the term “March Madness” has been one of the most visible differences between the men’s and women’s tournaments, as it is used both on CBS broadcasts during men’s tournament games and is only found on the NCAA’s website and social media platforms to describe its presence. men’s games. (The women’s basketball tournament is televised by ESPN.)
David Worlock, the NCAA’s director of media 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, but different from, the men’s tournament logo. allows fans to identify each tournament as it is promoted.
Worlock acknowledged that the brand change was made in response to the gender equality report, and said the NCAA and its staff were “looking at all these different factors raised in the report.”
According to the report, a $600 million drop in revenue due to the cancellation of the men’s tournament in 2020 has prompted NCAA officials to focus heavily on how the men’s tournament will recover, to the detriment of the women’s tournament.
Prince of Oregon Sedona He started a wave of criticism about the disparities between tournaments when he complained about the paucity of weightlifting equipment in Texas, comparing the offerings to those provided for men.
Investigators also found differences between tournaments in the quality of meals, lounges, and even gift bags provided to players.
After the public review, NCAA officials apologized for their misstep, and its president, Mark Emmert, said: later accepted He also said he used cheaper, less reliable coronavirus tests for the women’s tournament.
The NCAA said it plans to change the way tournaments are funded as well. Men’s and women’s basketball rosters will start from scratch each year determining expenses for approval, rather than working from past years’ budgets. The NCAA said it hoped the move would address differences in funding allocation and make the two championships more “financially fair.”
In March, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, made up of the best coaches in women’s college basketball – Met with NCAA executives to discuss how the association promotes women’s basketball. Danielle Donehew, the organization’s executive director, said in an email that the branding “March Madness” was among the many concerns the organization reported to the NCAA at the time.
“This is a great first step in unifying the NCAA women’s and men’s basketball championships under one strong and exciting brand,” Donehew said.
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