SAN ANTONIO – The NCAA has claimed full responsibility for the inequity issues brought to light during the Women’s Basketball Championship tournament in San Antonio, according to an interview with ESPN.
The NCAA was criticized after multiple videos surfaced on social media from players and coaching staff, noting that the men’s and women’s weight rooms— in Indianapolis and San Antonio, respectively—were not equal.
Lynn Holzman, NCAA vice president, says their organization is taking full responsibility and that the city of San Antonio is not to blame.
“Well, first, I’d like to really... I want to emphasize that the City of San Antonio and its community has done an absolutely tremendous job preparing for, being ready, and just embracing our championship being here. The issues that have been noted are the responsibility of the NCAA. They’re not the responsibility of the City of San Antonio. They have conducted Women’s Final Fours, Men’s Final Fours in the past and other NCAA championships, and I’m sure they will in the future,” Holzman said in an interview.
As of Saturday, players at the NCAA women’s basketball tournament were given access to a fully-stocked weight room, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Originally, the NCAA had told teams in a tournament manual that there would not be a weight room facility available until after the second round, when only 16 teams would remain, the AP reports.
However, that quickly changed after social media posts from players and coaches revealed just a single rack of dumbbells and yoga mats were available to women players. Whereas the men has a fully-stocked weight room before the start of their tournament.
That in turn set off backlash “condemning the inequities between the men’s and women’s tournaments that drew the attention of NBA and WNBA players as well as former coaches,” the AP reports.
NCAA administrators apologized to the women’s basketball players on Friday for the inequities.
With games starting on Sunday, it’s unclear how many teams will actually use the new equipment.
The City of San Antonio is still set to host the 2025 NCAA Men’s Final Four tournament.