TAMPA, Fla. — The introduction of revenue sharing in college athletics could ruin the competitive gains women’s basketball has made in the last decade-plus, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said Thursday.
“It will ruin parity. That's No. 1,” Auriemma said at Amalie Arena ahead of UConn’s 24th Final Four appearance. “I'm for revenue sharing. There will be less parity in the game of basketball.”
The Huskies, who won a record 11 national championships, and Tennessee, eight-time national champions, ran the women’s basketball world for much of its existence under the NCAA governance. Over the last few Final Fours, coaches have praised the increase in parity with more teams annually in position to win a national championship.
“Now that's all going to go away,” Auriemma said. “Now it will become like college football, where in every conference, and as the conferences get bigger — think about it, there's 18 teams in the Big Ten for now. I would venture to say eight of those teams will never get to the championship game in any sport.”
Beginning this summer, schools can share up to $20.5 million in revenue directly with athletes under rev-sharing guidelines. Most college athletic departments plan to use the majority of that cap on football and men’s basketball, and it will vary by institution. Initially, the Office of Civil Rights issued a memo that Title IX would apply to rev-sharing, but the guidance was rescinded in February after the latest presidential election.
“As the money now drives it, there's going to be less people that have that kind of money,” Auriemma said. “There's going to be less of them that are going to want to give it to women's basketball.”
For those programs that do give a portion of their revenue to women’s basketball, Auriemma is suggesting it will create the haves and have-nots fans saw in the early years of the game where many schools did not take their women’s programs seriously.
“When you do those kind of ...
