Editorial

REPORT: The Women’s NCAA Tournament Loses Millions Of Dollars, The Men’s Tournament Earns Nearly $1 Billion

OPINION
Purdue v Virginia

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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The women’s NCAA Tournament reportedly loses millions of dollars.

As everyone knows, the women’s tournament has been in the news a bunch lately because the weight room provided was a bit of a joke. Naturally, everyone had to start talking about equality. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)

Well, it turns out there’s zero equality when it comes to the finances of the men’s and women’s March Madness games.

According to data published by ESPN, the men’s 2019 tournament generated a net income of $864.6 million on a budget of $28 million.

How did the women do? They lost $2.8 million on roughly half the budget. ESPN reported that the women’s tournament was “the largest loss of any NCAA championship.”

I have long argued that college sports should be required to survive on what they earn themselves. If the football team earns $100 million, then the football team should keep every penny.

If the team can’t survive, then get rid of it. That goes for men’s and women’s sports. I don’t need men’s rowing anymore than I need women’s sports that lose money.

Sports are a meritocracy. Greatness will rise. Everything else will fall off and disappear.

Now that we have the actual numbers from 2019, it just goes to show how dumb the idea is that everything in college sports needs to be equal.

The men’s basketball and football subsidize everything else. It’s just a fact. There might be other programs at certain schools that make money, but for the most part, football and basketball are the kings.

It’s just the way it is, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

And before any of you claim I hate women’s sports, the Badgers just won a women’s hockey national title and you better believe I repped that title with pride.

Let’s just stop with the foolishness that women’s basketball is the same as men’s basketball. It’s literally not. One prints money like its an ATM and the other is a drain on the resources of the NCAA.

These are the facts!