http://soccerlens.com/a-view-from-across-the-pond/14995/ Football News Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:36:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= http://soccerlens.com/a-view-from-across-the-pond/14995/#comment-105467 Barbara Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:21:46 +0000 http://soccerlens.com/?p=14995#comment-105467 The legal requirements under Title IX are horribly misstated in this article. First, Title IX has nothing to do with the "youth systems" mentioned -- Title IX prevents discrimination based on sex in educational programs at institutions that receive federal funding. Youth systems are generally private clubs that are not covered under Title IX. Next, Title IX does not require equal numbers of scholarships for collegiate men and women -- it requires that scholarships provided are in representative proportion to the number of male and female athletes in the program (so if 80% of your athletes are men, 80% of the scholarships go to men). American football does generate revenue, but contrary to popular opinion, most football teams don't generate enough revenue to pay for themselves let alone support the other sports. As far as football "requiring" larger squad sizes, there is no requirement that a football team has to have 85 full scholarships -- they could easily survive with far fewer and provide partial scholarships like they do in soccer and almost every other sport. There is also nothing in Title IX that requires any athletics department to cut ANY sport -- that is the choice of athletics directors and the athletics department boosters that worship at the football altar, no matter what it costs. Contrary to your assertion about all other sports, men's collegiate sports continue to grow in the United States, and the women's share of the athletics department budget continues to shrink. Your comments about funding, pitches and coaching are arguably accurate, but college soccer is not about developing athletes. The legal requirements under Title IX are horribly misstated in this article. First, Title IX has nothing to do with the “youth systems” mentioned — Title IX prevents discrimination based on sex in educational programs at institutions that receive federal funding. Youth systems are generally private clubs that are not covered under Title IX. Next, Title IX does not require equal numbers of scholarships for collegiate men and women — it requires that scholarships provided are in representative proportion to the number of male and female athletes in the program (so if 80% of your athletes are men, 80% of the scholarships go to men). American football does generate revenue, but contrary to popular opinion, most football teams don’t generate enough revenue to pay for themselves let alone support the other sports. As far as football “requiring” larger squad sizes, there is no requirement that a football team has to have 85 full scholarships — they could easily survive with far fewer and provide partial scholarships like they do in soccer and almost every other sport. There is also nothing in Title IX that requires any athletics department to cut ANY sport — that is the choice of athletics directors and the athletics department boosters that worship at the football altar, no matter what it costs. Contrary to your assertion about all other sports, men’s collegiate sports continue to grow in the United States, and the women’s share of the athletics department budget continues to shrink. Your comments about funding, pitches and coaching are arguably accurate, but college soccer is not about developing athletes.

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