All for One or One for All; A Fight for March Madness

March Madness is thought of by many to be the pinnacle of college sports, and a representation of the culture and heritage of the NCAA. When the phrase, ‘March Madness’ comes about, the expectation for amazement and wonderment follow close behind. For hoopers, it’s the apex of what an amateur can aspire to be, and yet, it’s not a phrase that the women’s bracket of the NCAA could’ve even been associated with until recently.
This upcoming season of NCAA basketball will be the first where the women can use the phrase on their marketing, endorsements, and merchandise. This opens the door for hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential revenue that the women’s division of the NCAA has been missing out on. The question is: Why?
The main contributing factor if you ask me would have to be greed. March Madness grosses billions of dollars throughout their tournament, and as a result, has grown into one of the most powerful sporting industries in the world, fueled solely by amateur talent.
When it comes to the NCAA as an entity, their main goal is to capitalize off the players by any means necessary at every possible corner. This is to maximize the profit of the student-athlete at every turn, to the point where it’s not even their names that sell the seats; it’s the legacy of their predecessors.
This brings me to my point, which is that those at the top of the NCAA hierarchy fear women’s sports devaluing the legacy of the sports. Which would be nothing short of disrespectful.
From the legends of Pat Summit, Maya Moore, and Breanna Stewart, the women’s side of the bracket has seen some of the greatest hoopers to ever touch a court. Taking Gene Auriemma’s UConn dynasty into consideration, the NCAA women’s bracket may have the greatest team to ever touch the hardwood.
Taking all of this into account, what are those at the top afraid of? Ultimately, the NCAA Tournament only welcomes the elite of the elite, and if the performances are pristine, I see no cause to believe that the women holding the March Madness mantle could do anything short of uplift it.
The truth is, the NCAA was historically run by old men who were stuck in their ways and denied change. However, it’s undeniable now that we are in a new day. Women’s basketball could arguably be reaching its golden age as the greats retire and new stars rise to take their spots. We are witnessing the evolution of college and professional women’s sports, and hopefully, for the NCAA, they aren’t too late to bask in the spoils of glory that women’s basketball can add to the March Madness legacy.