Final Four for both men and women should be in the same venue

[bonarae]

.... as a recommendation from the NCAA Gender Equity review.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/31951330/long-awaited-ncaa-gender-equity-review-recommends-combined-final-four-mens-women-basketball-same-site

Thoughts? xchinscratchx

[Laker]

This is idiotic. I've been to men's final fours. I've been to women's final fours. It is different fan groups. The men filled up the stadium in Indianapolis. The women filled up the Target Center in Minneapolis. Why put all of those people in the same city- so they can build more hotels? Make the even special to the city that is hosting it.

This idea is as dumb as what the HS hockey tournament does in Minnesota. Ridder Arena, where the Gopher women play, holds about 2000. It would be a GREAT site for the girls tourney. Instead they play in the cavernous arena where the Wild play because the boys tourney is there. As a result the building is mostly empty and echoing.

Imagine having the D3 final on Thursday night, the D2 final on a Friday night, the FCS final on Saturday afternoon and the FBS final on Saturday night, all in the same place. Would that make the even better? I don't think so.

Equity is not the same as equality.

[Professor Chaos]

I wouldn't have an issue with it. I get Laker's point that the women's games are likely to draw a much smaller crowd than the men's game but so what? Would the women's teams complain? I wouldn't think so and it eliminates the complaint that the men's venue is better. Would the men's teams complain? Doesn't really affect them at all I wouldn't think. Would the NCAA be hurt by it? If anything I think it would make it easier logistically to have both final fours in the same venue during the same week(end). Play the men's games on Saturday and Monday and the women's games on Sunday and Tuesday or vice versa.

Bottom line is I have a hard time seeing who among the primary shareholders here would be hurt by this.

[walliver]

This won't be a big deal for most involved. It won't hurt the men, and will just further reinforce the impression that women's basketball is just a "me too" sport, trying to emulated all the male traditions.

Under current contracts, coverage would still be on different networks.

What is more concerning to me is the proposal to unbundle all the NCAA championships and offer rights independently. Would this help the FCS playoffs or relegate us to a minor sports network?

[Professor Chaos]

This won't be a big deal for most involved. It won't hurt the men, and will just further reinforce the impression that women's basketball is just a "me too" sport, trying to emulated all the male traditions.

Under current contracts, coverage would still be on different networks.

What is more concerning to me is the proposal to unbundle all the NCAA championships and offer rights independently. Would this help the FCS playoffs or relegate us to a minor sports network?
That's a great question. I'd like to think that the FCS playoffs would be one of the more lucrative contracts of the 30 something that are currently bundled together on the deal with ESPN but I'm very biased. However, one big advantage of that would be that the network purchasing the rights would probably be more invested in promoting the FCS playoffs. I'm irritated every single year about how ESPN gives so little promotion to the FCS playoffs even though they give them some pretty good TV spots.

If that does happen let's hope Turner Sports gets the FCS Playoffs contract and we can have Charles Barkley as a special analyst on the pregame/halftime/postgame show. :D

[OhioHen]

Equity is not the same as equality.

I've always liked the phrasing "Fair doesn't mean equal and equal doesn't mean identical" to describe equity.

[dgtw]

I think having them at the same site would make the women’s finals a side show.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bonarae]

The earliest this could occur is in 2027...

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2021-09-30/college-basketball-exploration-combined-mens-and-womens-final-fours-begins?utm_campaign=trending