NCPA Calls on NCAA to Abide By and Enforce Title IX Amid March Madness Tournament Discrimination Against Female Athletes

The NCPA is calling on the NCAA to abide by and enforce Title IX throughout its member institutions. The NCAA does not need permission from the government to adopt this as a rule...

March 20, 2021

The National College Players Association (NCPA) blasted the NCAA’s discriminatory treatment of female basketball players at its March Madness Tournament.  The NCPA is calling on the NCAA to abide by and enforce Title IX throughout its member institutions.  The NCAA does not need permission from the government to adopt this as a rule, it just needs to prioritize ensuring equal rights for women in college sports.  

NCPA Executive Director Ramogi Huma stated, “There is no reason that a portion of the money from this $1 billion tournament wasn’t used to provide equal equipment, food, and COVID testing.  NCAA sports is a sexist, discriminatory industry.  To add insult to injury, NCAA rules prohibiting athletes from receiving benefits due to their name, image, likeness, and athletics reputation prevent the female basketball players in the tournament from receiving help from Vanessa Bryant, Planet Fitness, and others who are offering to help these women.”

Unjust economic restrictions are the target of college basketball players’ #NotNCAAProperty protest that has garnered tremendous support across the nation.

University of Oregon women’s basketball player Sedona Prince exposed the NCAA’s poor treatment of the women in a video showing the expansive gym equipment made available to men’s basketball players compared to the few dumbbells provided for female basketball players.  The disparity has significant meaning given that this is taking place during Women’s History Month.

Sedona’s mother Tambra Prince stated, “Instead of enforcing rules that treat college athletes like NCAA property, the NCAA can choose to enforce Title IX to ensure that female athletes are treated equitably in NCAA sports.  The reason this isn’t already happening is because NCAA sports doesn’t value equal rights for women like it values monopolizing college athletes’ name, image, and likeness.”

Because Federal Title IX compliance in athletics has been weak and the NCAA has failed to act, the NCPA has begun seeking enforcement through state law.  The NCPA sponsored California AB 609, “The College Athlete Race and Gender Equity Act”.  Introduced by California State Senator Sydney Kamlager, the bill would suspend athletic directors for three years for failing to comply with Title IX.

Senator Kamlager stated, “These elite college athletes competing on the national stage are treated by the NCAA as second-class citizens.  Their conscious business decision to provide women athletes with unequal treatment to their male counterparts underscores the very reason I am fighting for equity and our college athletes’ rights with AB 609 in California.”

The NCPA was a sponsor of the California Fair Pay to Play Act to allow college athletes to receive compensation for use of their name, image, and likeness. Dozens of other states are following suit with similar legislation.

 

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