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On Saturday, May 21, 2011, ESPN broadcast an NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse tournament game between the University of Denver and Johns Hopkins.  In the course of that broadcast, during a discussion about factors that were slowing or preventing the expansion of men’s lacrosse on college campuses, ESPN commentator Quint Kessenich said that “Title IX is the roadblock.”

For some listening to the broadcast, including several former students of mine who played women’s lacrosse in college, Kessenich’s comment had a false ring to it.  According to the national governing body for the sport, US Lacrosse, the sport is one of the fastest-growing team sports in the country with increases in participation and numbers of teams from youth through professional levels.  To emphasize the point, a record 61 men’s teams competed in the NCAA Division I this year.

As a matter of context, where does the assertion come from that Title IX is serving as an impediment to the growth of men’s lacrosse and is it valid?  Some insight in this regard may be found in an article written by Christian Swezey published in the May 27^th edition of the Washington Post entitled “2011 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Semifinals Showcase Growth of Sport.”  Referencing data from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHA), Swezey reported there was a 55% percent increase in the number of boys’ high school varsity teams during the last five years.* He went on to note that the number of NCAA institutions offering the sport in the mid-2000s declined to 54 largely due to Title IX, mentioning three institutions in particular that dropped programs including Boston College, Michigan State, and Butler University.

There are several things here worth considering.  First, the NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report documents the average squad size for men’s lacrosse teams increased by 13 from 33 to 46 between 1981-1982 and 2009-2010.  In comparison, the number of roster spots for NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse teams during this same period of time increased by four per team.  While Title IX does not require direct comparisons between sports, and takes into account the entire profile of an athletic department, nature of the sport, and the opportunities made available to athletes throughout, nevertheless the comparison does provide a bit of perspective.

Second, the factual assertion that there has been a decrease in the number of men’s teams in the mid-2000s is problematic.  Between the academic years 1981-1982 and 2009-2010, while the occasional school dropped or added the sport, the overall pattern was one of slow growth in Division I with the number of teams increasing from 50 to 58.  During the mid-2000s, the sport was holding steady at 56 teams (mid being defined as 2004-2005 through 2007-2008).  The sport did realize a decrease of one team in 2002-2003, going from 55 to 54.  Thus, the attribution of a decline in the sport due to Title IX seems to be exaggerated, overstated, or perhaps just simply wrong.

And third, while men’s lacrosse at Butler, Boston College, and Michigan State did lose varsity status on their respective campuses, it should at least be noted that they did not disappear.  Each of those institutions have a men’s club lacrosse program that competes in the Men’s Collegiate Lacrosse Association, which is the national organization for non-varsity collegiate men’s lacrosse programs with a membership of 213 teams from the U.S. and Canada.

While advocates for men’s lacrosse at Boston College have periodically sought reinstatement of that sport to a varsity level citing frustrations with the perceived unfairness of Title IX, the response of athletic director Gene DeFilippo as recently as October of 2010 illustrates how a one-size fits all priority system applied to college and university athletic departments would strip away the uniqueness that makes programs what they are.  In addressing the question of why varsity men’s lacrosse would not be added in the near future in the Boston College Athletics Annual Report 2010, DeFilippo wrote,  “I don’t see a men’s lacrosse team in the near future.  Only four institutions in the ACC (Maryland, Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina) offer men’s lacrosse, and none of those institutions offer 18 scholarships for men’s ice hockey and 18 scholarships for women’s ice hockey.  Hockey is a big and important sport here at Boston College…We cannot be everything to everybody.”

While the sport may not have a place on every campus, the sport of men’s lacrosse has evidenced a steady trajectory of growth.  The number of teams in NCAA Division II has more than doubled during the past 20 years, going from 18 to 38.  In NCAA Division III a similar pattern has occurred, with men’s teams increasing from 70 to 166.

Part of what appears to be fueling concerns about Title IX’s perceived negative influence on the growth of men’s lacrosse is the fact that since 1996, women’s lacrosse programs have been added at a faster rate than men’s programs at the college level, eventually catching up and then surpassing them.  While men’s programs across all divisions have doubled, women’s programs have tripled.

Has Title IX contributed to the development of women’s lacrosse programs nationwide?  Chances are, yes.  Title IX does serve as a barrier to the unregulated growth of men’s athletics to the exclusion of women’s programs.  At the same time, however, given New York Times reporter Katie Thomas’s investigation of deceptive roster management practices, whatever growth found in women’s lacrosse may well be inflated in terms of the number of female athletes participating while the number of male athletes competing on men’s lacrosse teams may be underreported.

Further, the notion that if Title IX was removed from the decision making process the path would be cleared for men’s lacrosse to flourish seems unrealistic in light of existing financial realities.  New research is showing athletic departments that claim cuts to men’s programs are due to Title IX do not reallocate those resources to women’s programs but increase spending to their existing men’s programs.  This is consistent with trends reported by former Division I athletic director and now consultant with Sport Management Resources, Christine Grant, who points out that approximately 75% of men’s athletic budgets in NCAA Division I institutions are spent on the sports of football and men’s basketball.

For those who conceive of Title IX as a roadblock that once removed would allow men’s lacrosse to grow at a faster rate should heed the note of caution in the expression “be careful what you wish for.”  Rather than serving as a roadblock to the development of the sport, Title IX may well have created a pathway for the sport to gain traction in athletic departments because of the need to add women’s programs.  Surely, the expansion of the sport beyond the regional niche of the Eastern U.S. has not occurred solely because the sport is played by men but because the sport is played by men and women.

As is the case at the University of Michigan, Marquette, and Mount Union, some NCAA Division I and III institutions are recognizing the merits of adding both men’s and women’s lacrosse at the same time, presumably creating gender equitable financial, facility, and administrative support models to achieve Title IX compliance goals while fulfilling the mission of their institutions in the process.

The sport has an opportunity to envision a gender equitable future for female and male athletes.  Singling out Title IX as the cause of the sport’s problems undermines that possibility and deflects attention from the array of factors that affect institutional decisions about when, how, and under what circumstances sports are added to athletic programs.  The roadblocks are many–the after affects of the economic downturn, conference realignments, the impact of the Academic Progress Rate (APR) on financial resource allocation.  Title IX is not one of them.

*Note:  In checking the rate of growth for boys’ high school teams using the NSFHA data for the years 2005-2006 through 2009-2010, the number of teams increased from 1395 to 2068.  This represents a 46% rather than 55% rate of growth.

References

Grant, C.  (2009, February 23).  Football Bowl Subdivision athletics budgets increase at alarming rate.  Retrieved June 1, http://www.sportsmanagementresources.com

Marquette University.  (20010, December 16).  Marquette University to add men’s and women’s lacrosse.  Press release.  Retrieved June 1, 2011, http://www.cstv.com

NFSHSA.  (2010).  2009-2010 High school athletics participation survey.  Retrieved June 1, 2011, http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=3282

Swezey, C.  (2011, May 27).  2011 NCAA men’s lacrosse semifinals showcase growth of sport.  Washington Post.  Retrieved June 1, 2011,    http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/2011-ncaa-mens-lacrosse-semifinals-showcase-regional-growth-of-port/2011/05/27/AG62gpCH_story.html

Thomas, K.  (2011, April 25).  College teams, relying on deception, undermine gender equity.  New York Times.  Retrieved June 3, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/sports/26titleix.html 

US Lacrosse.  (2009).  2009 participation survey.  Retrieved June 1, 2011,                         http://apps.uslacrosse.org/pdf/09participation.pdf                 

Zgonc, E.  (2010, November).  NCAA sports sponsorship and participation rates report: 1981-82 – 2009-2010.  Retrieved June 1, 2011,       http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/PR2011.pdf

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Dr. Ellen Staurowsky is a professor and graduate chair in the Department of Sport Management & Media at Ithaca College.  Dr. Staurowsky is internationally recognized as an expert on social justice issues in sport which include gender equity and Title IX, pay equity and equal employment opportunity, the exploitation of athletes, the faculty role in reforming college sport, representation of women in sport media, and the misappropriation of American Indian imagery in sport.  She is co-author of the book, College Athletes for Hire:  The Evolution and Legacy of the NCAA Amateur Myth and is currently working on her second book entitled Women in Sport: From Liberation to Celebration. In addition to publications in scholarly journals such as the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Sociology of Sport Journal, Quest, Journal of Sport Management, the International Journal of Sport Sociology, the Marquette Sports Law Review, the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, and the International Journal of Sport History, her critiques and analyses on a variety of issues have appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, The NCAA News, The New York Times, Athletic Management Magazine, and News From Indian Country.  Dr. Staurowsky has received numerous honors over the years.  Temple University recognized Dr. Staurowsky with a Young Alumna Achievement Award in 1998 and in 2005 she was presented with an Excellence in Professional Performance Award.  She has been named to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers on numerous occasions and she is a recipient of a Faculty Appreciation Award from students at Ithaca College.  In 2002, she received the Ithaca College Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship.  In 2005, Dr. Staurowsky received the Ithaca College Office of Multicultural Affairs Appreciation Award and the IC Feminists Woman of Achievement Award in 2006.  In December of 2008, she was named the first recipient of the National Residence Hall Honorary (NHRR – Ithaca) Faculty Member of the Month.  Recognized with the Darlene Kluka Women’s Sports Foundation’s Research Award in 2008, Dr. Staurowsky was also honored that same year with a Presidential Award from the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport.   In 2009, Dr. Staurowsky received the Ithaca College Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.  Dr. Staurowsky is frequently sought after for interviews to discuss contemporary sport issues.  She has served as president of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport and the AAHPERD Research Consortium.  She is an executive board member of the College Sport Research Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the NCAA Scholarly Colloquium, where she also serves as secretary-treasurer.  She has made several appearances on ESPN Outside the Lines, ESPN Classic, ESPN Cold Pizza, and Public Broadcasting’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.  Dr. Staurowsky served as a director of athletics at the college level for nine years before moving to Ithaca College and previous to that was a college coach in the sports of field hockey, men’s soccer, and women’s lacrosse. Dr. Staurowsky can be reached at staurows@ithaca.edu

Comments(2):

1. Quint was right on target

   Here's an article explaining the issue and why title ix is a reason men's lacrosse has yet to expand significantly: http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/09/01/title-ix-still-restricting-growth-lacrosse-collegiate-level

   Monday, August 15, 2011 Brian

2. Great Perspectice on Title IX

   Title IX is used way too much as an excuse to reasons why men's sports are either dropped are are not added to athletic departments. Love this article!

   Thursday, August 18, 2011 Dawn