It’s the last week of March Madness, and some huge upsets have been happening within the brackets, but one of the biggest surprises is that women’s tickets are more expensive than men’s right now as we head into the finals. Don’t get me wrong, I love the excellent underdog story, and my bracket is messed up heading into the finals. It’s more than ordinary knowledge that men’s sports, especially in the NCAA and professional sports, have more attendance and funding;which are both other issues within sports. It’s awesome to see that women’s sports are finally getting the audience that they deserve, and although many may have opinions about this, at the end of the day, women are finally getting out there, and showing their skills that have been there since women could compete/play in sports.
For those who are new to sports, March Madness is the Women’s and Men’s college basketball championships. It’s the end of the winter sports season and is during the post-season. Or if you aren’t a basketball fan, it is like the Frozen Four, for Hockey or championships for really any sport. They just call it March Madness from a broadcaster back in 1982. The name is rather fitting since it takes up the whole month of March. March Madness is known for its brackets across the United States, at the DI, DII, DIII levels. The difference in mens and womens sports are pretty interesting. The first ever Women’s March Madness was in 1982. The first Men’s March Madness tournament was in 1939. Women were not allowed to play college sports until 1941. However, it wasn’t at the same level that the Mens sports were at. Women had their own division. 1973, with the passing of Title XI, women were finally allowed to play in the NCAA. Its been a long road for Women’s Sports, but its just the beginning.
As a woman who is now retired from competition, it’s cool to see that women’s sports are starting to get the attention that they deserve. It’s definitely a step in the right direction. I was pleasantly surprised seeing and hearing about this from friends within the sports community that I had to look for myself—which is how I ended up writing this. For me, growing up, women’s sports were just starting to get the same recognition as their male counterparts. Getting to the point where tickets for a women’s game are in high demand has been a long road, but it is far from over. It’s surely an exciting time to be a woman in sports.