"Women's hoops not worth loss of other programs"

Article here. Excerpt:

'The national championship game this week did not speak especially well of women's college basketball. Two excellent teams played mostly ugly hoops and the better team came back to win.
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The empty seats, row after row and section after section, in the regular season yell out a message heard by some but acknowledged by none. That same message is acutely visible, if we care to look, in the shallow pool of talent and overall quality disparity.

Women's college basketball eventually must face the big boss of sports: money.
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That's the case for now, as dictated by the 1972 enactment of Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in educational programs receiving federal money. It's fair and necessary to grant such equality, though it usually is enforced only as it relates to sports. Title IX didn't kill sexism, but it resulted in a reasonably level playing field.

It also leveled a staggering number of men's and combined programs — hundreds upon hundreds since '72 — and they're still dropping. Football was discontinued at Saint Mary's, Santa Clara and University of the Pacific. Colorado State dropped baseball. Arizona State dropped wrestling two years ago, and Northern Iowa axed baseball last year.
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Men's basketball generates billions in TV revenue; the women a fraction of that. In many if not most cases, the men subsidize the women — even as other programs are victimized by budget cuts. Seton Hall claims it will save $1.5 million by shedding men and women's track; the school will add women's golf. Slashing programs to save money has become popular.
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Meanwhile, very few schools realistically compete for a championship in women's basketball; UConn and Tennessee have accounted for 13 of the last 20 titles. There is an abundance of lopsided games and a lot of ugly basketball suitable for "club" sport status, which keeps alive Colorado State baseball.

Is what's being gained worth what's being lost? Money thinks not. And money will, at some point, be heard.'