NCAA hires law firm to evaluate potential equity issues

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA is hiring a law firm to review potential equity gender issues related to how it conducts its men’s and women’s championship events.

The NCAA has been criticized the past two weeks for not providing equal amenities to the teams in the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments. Female players, coaches and staff in San Antonio have criticized the NCAA for not initially providing a full weight training area to the women’s teams, noting the men’s teams in Indianapolis did not have the same problem.

The NCAA has apologized and President Mark Emmert said Thursday that Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, which has experience in Title IX and gender equity issues, will conduct an “independent equity review” and evaluate the organization’s “practices and policies and provide recommendations on steps we can take to get better.”

“The NCAA will continue to aggressively address material and impactful differences between the Division I men’s and women’s basketball championships,” Emmert said in a statement. “While many of the operational issues identified have been resolved, we must continue to make sure we are doing all we can to support gender equity in sports. As part of this effort, we are evaluating the current and previous resource allocation to each championship, so we have a clear understanding of costs, spend and revenue.”