Neff Zone Column

Print Edition: April 30, 2005

SWITCHING GIRL’S SPORTS SEASONS IS POINTLESS

In the wake of the Michigan State University women’s basketball team’s appearance in the NCAA championship game, there is a lot of statewide interest in women’s basketball that otherwise wouldn’t be at the fore. It’s particularly apropos because of the recent court case that will eventually result in Michigan high schools switching the girl’s volleyball season to fall, thus bumping the girl’s basketball season to winter (to parallel the boy’s basketball season).

The argument proponents of this switch tout is that aligning the girl’s schedules with that of the college women’s programs will result in more scholarship opportunities for female athletes. Those who oppose the switch point to problems with scheduling gym time and game nights, as well as problems with finding enough officials to referee all the contests.

I’m not going to get into the issues of the court case because it doesn’t matter. Go ahead and realign away; it’s all a pointless exercise. Why? Because the colleges are inevitably going to change when the women’s basketball season is played. College volleyball will have to deal with the change, probably by changing their season. What are high schools going to do? Logically, if mirroring college seasons is the goal, then the high schools will have to follow the colleges’ lead.

Now, high school girl’s basketball and girl’s volleyball fans, don’t write to me and tell me I’m off base because your chosen sport is exciting, compelling, and just as good as the boy’s sports. The inevitable switch in schedules has nothing to do with the merits of any of the sports or the gender of those who play them. It’s all about the MONEY.

I listen to a lot of late night radio sports talk shows from all over the country and over the past couple of months one of the hot topics has been how to best maximize the potential of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. The bottom line is that the colleges see how much money the men’s tournament generates and right now the women’s tournament take is just a fraction of the men’s. If there’s one thing college administrators and athletics directors hunger for it’s more money, and they see a plum ripe for the picking.

Right now, the women’s tournament is almost a "J.V." status because it’s played at the same time as the men play. The men are on CBS with a $375-million dollar rights fee and a national radio network; the women are on ESPN2 with no appreciable radio coverage. Men’s bracket pools are almost a religion in offices and workplaces all across America. Have you ever been in a bracket pool for the women’s tournament? According to a USA Today poll, 58% of us watch the afternoon games in the early rounds of the men’s tournament on television while we’re at work (probably with the boss’s blessing). Come on, admit it, you would not have watched much of the women’s tournament had Michigan State not been in the spotlight, and certainly not during your work day. In fact, the TV ratings for this year’s women’s tourney dropped 13% from last year’s. In terms of ticket sales, all the men’s rounds are sellouts years in advance; this year’s women’s tournament had a regional attendance average of 4,950, lowest since 1997. The MSU-Stanford game only drew 2,475. Don’t complain that this state of affairs is not fair or politically correct; it’s just the way it is.

Women’s college basketball big shots see this too, and they also see a way to turn the women’s tourney into a cash machine just like the men’s. The key is television scheduling, and it has nothing to do with the skill of the athletes or the quality of play. Simply, they are convinced that if they put the NCAA women’s basketball tournament on TV when it could command prime attention, the women’s tourney could become as prominent (i.e. lucrative) as the men’s.

Right now the two "down times" in televised sports being looked at are February and late November/early December. Those in favor of a February women’s tournament note that the men’s tourney, NBA and NHL playoffs have not yet started at that time, the NFL is over, and Major League Baseball isn’t even at spring training yet. The November/December backers observe that during this period the college football regular season is over and the bowls have not yet begun, the NFL is not in playoff mode, and there’s really not much basketball being televised at any level. Either way, the college women’s season would have to begin some time in the fall. (Gee, I wonder which state already plays girl’s basketball in the fall…)

I know what the volleyball folks are thinking: "Why don’t they just televise more volleyball?" Get real, it’s not going to happen. The money is here right now for basketball. Volleyball is a money loser at the college level and has virtually no television ratings. Viewers are already trained in the basketball bracket mentality and network executives are not interested in a long-term learning curve volleyball project, plus college bigwigs smell instant cash.

You can see the inklings of the schedule change already starting to take place. Last week ESPN announced that the women’s tournament selection show will be moved to Monday next year, a day after the men’s Sunday show. Coaches don’t like the move because it gives them a day less to prepare for opening round games, but their opinions don’t count for much. ESPN can sell more advertising (and the NCAA will get more rights fees) if the women’s show is on a separate night.

The bottom line (pun intended) is that television scheduling and the lure of a potential monetary windfall will determine when the women and girls play basketball (and volleyball). Every other consideration will be secondary.

Jim Neff is a local columnist. Comments to neffzone@gmail.com . Read Neff Zone columns online at www.neffzone.com/cadillacnews .