With the Elite Eight games going head to head, I wonder what the TV ratings are for the men's compared to the women's.
If it's all about equality then we should receive the same about of money the $EC gives it schools, that's just equal. Oh that won't happen because they have a "better" product compared to others. Hmmm it seems you have just proven the point.
Like it or not, at some point the grown-ups in the room have to say enough is enough. EVERYONE in this country is offered a "free" education until they are at least 17. Good school or bad school, if you do the work and pass, you graduate with a decent GPA to get into college. In high school, sports teams are using the same equipment all the time, but the coaches are given budgets and can use them how ever they want to. When I played HS ball, the girls team (coached by the AD) took 15 passenger vans while the guys took busses to away games. The girls had to wash their own practice and game uniforms, we had ours done by the managers. But they bought the girls food several times a year for the long trips, we never stopped or ate.
Look at individual colleges. UNC guys play in the Dean Dome (21,000 seats) while the gals play in Carmichael Auditorium (6,800 seats). Not equal. Kentucky guys play at Rupp Arena (20,000 seats) while the gals play at Memorial Coliseum (8,500 seats). Not equal. So until the individual schools start acting in an equal way, why should the NCAA?
The NCAA stepped in it big time with the weightroom disparities, no question about that. But since the NCAA does not receive Federal funding (their funding comes from the member institutions and TV deals) they are not subject to Title IX. Just the way it is. They (NCAA) see the writing on the wall (NIL) and are going to have to change or the Power Five will break off and form a new version at the end of the current TV deal, expiring in 2024.