NCAA says it ‘fell short’ after criticism of men’s vs. women’s facilities

The NCAA issued an apology on Friday after it was criticized for wide disparities between men’s and women’s workout facilities at the March Madness basketball tournament.

“We fell short this year in what we’ve been doing to prepare,” said Lynn Holzman, the NCAA’s vice president of women’s basketball, according to The Washington Post. Holzman said that the NCAA is “actively working” to improve the women’s exercise facilities and food, following conversations with team administrators and coaches.

A video shared to social media on Thursday sparked outrage after showing the contrast between the men’s and women’s workout facilities where one dumbbell rack was designated for women’s basketball players to use, compared to a complete weight facility for men’s basketball teams.

Let me put it on Twitter too cause this needs the attention pic.twitter.com/t0DWKL2YHR

— Sedona Prince (@sedonaprince_) March 19, 2021

Professional basketball players including Sue Bird, Steph Curry and Sabrina Ionescu expressed their discontent with the NCAA on Thursday.

I can’t. https://t.co/kXLarEkqTV

— Sue Bird (@S10Bird) March 18, 2021

wow-come on now! @marchmadness @NCAA yall trippin trippin. https://t.co/iCHqV3QSWA

— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) March 19, 2021

Women’s @NCAA bubble weight room vs Men’s weight room… thought this was a joke. WTF is this?!?
To all the women playing in the @marchmadness tournament, keep grinding! pic.twitter.com/K04KTv6s46

— Sabrina Ionescu (@sabrina_i20) March 18, 2021

The NCAA told the Post that, initially, it believed that space would be an issue in creating a weight facility at the convention center hosting the women’s tournament.

However, Will Abrams, a women’s basketball coach at Rutgers, pushed back on that assertion, tweeting a video of an empty basketball court within the convention center.

“Not enough space” https://t.co/ZCKLuXpPmb pic.twitter.com/WvDGYdFQhy

— Will Abrams (@CoachWillRU) March 18, 2021

The NCAA also received criticism for providing men’s teams with swag bags filled with custom March Madness merchandise while the women’s teams received generic items, the Post reported.