Blackburn, Blumenthal call out NCAA’s unequal treatment of female athletes
March 29, 2021

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), whose home state collegiate women’s basketball teams— the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers and the UConn Huskies—have won a combined nineteen national championships, lambasted the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for its failures to provide female athletes the same level of access to COVID-19 screenings, training equipment, and facilities as their male counterparts during this month’s basketball tournaments.

“The NCAA holds up its commitments to equality in press releases and at oversight hearings, but the institution unsurprisingly failed its women athletes yet again. In an all-too-familiar pattern, the NCAA did not seem to notice these vast disparities or seek to address them – until the issue became a public relations problem,” wrote Blackburn and Blumenthal in a letter to NCAA President Mark Emmert.

Blackburn and Blumenthal’s letter comes after earlier this month, University of Oregon’s Sedona Prince posted a video comparing the vast disparities in training equipment at the men’s and women’s tournaments. More athletes and faculty then spoke out about the unequal tournament accommodations, meals, and amenities, including the UConn Huskies coach who called out the disparity in COVID-19 screenings.

The lawmakers sharply criticized the NCAA’s decision to provide only the men’s tournament with the more accurate PCR COVID-19 test, while the women’s tournament has received the cheaper and less accurate antigen tests. “It is indefensible that the NCAA would not set the same standards for both tournaments,” wrote Blackburn and Blumenthal, demanding this be immediately rectified.

“We may not agree on which state is the basketball capital of the world, but on this we agree: you must end this inexcusable pattern of inequities and neglect, and be transparent with these stellar women athletes about the steps you will take to ensure they have the same opportunities and support as their male counterparts,” the lawmakers continued.