In Their Court

In 1972, Title IX made gender discrimination illegal at schools receiving federal aid. Soon it became a powerful tool to start closing the gap in funding for collegiate sports. But in 2021, a viral video comparing the NCAA Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments showed that a shocking gulf still exists. As Title IX turns 50, In Their Court tells the story of the rise of a powerhouse sport, and why so many issues of inequity persist—within and beyond women’s basketball.

It’s 1970s America. President Nixon has signed Title IX into law, a bill that’s about to upend the world of women’s rights. In DC, a young, ambitious researcher is figuring out that Title IX has a very special application: women’s sports. In Ruston, Louisiana, a 19-year-old girl is walking up to the door of her university president’s office, pleading for a women’s basketball team. She’ll get one, and the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters will go on to be one of the strongest teams in the country. These are the early years of Title IX, and they’re basically the wild west.

There’s an organization you’ve probably never heard of before: The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. In the 1970s and early 1980s, this organization was the women’s version of the NCAA. It was a one-of-a-kind association, run by women for women, at a time when the NCAA was fighting Title IX in courts. But after losing a series of battles to protect lucrative sports like football, the NCAA realized, if you can’t beat them, stage a financial takeover. It was an all out war and women’s sports has never been the same since.

It’s 1996, more than a decade since the NCAA has taken over women’s college sports. Many of the association’s brightest basketball stars are on Team USA, hoping to take home gold at the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. But this team is more than just a team. They’re an experiment to see whether it’s worth bankrolling a professional women’s league. While this is happening, women on the collegiate level are still fighting for equal standing for their programs and players. Some believe the NCAA is partly to blame for the rapid decline in women leaders and coaches in basketball.

It’s the summer of 2021. Paige Bueckers, the star freshman on the University of Connecticut’s basketball team, has just won the ESPY for Best Female College Athlete. This is a big moment, but she’s not sure the attention should be on her. Instead, she wants to shine a light on Black basketball players, who she believes don’t get the media coverage they deserve. From coaches to players, Black women in basketball are hyper-visible and yet invisible, forced to create their own paths for rising in the sport. In this episode of In Their Court, we talk to two legendary Black basketball stars, Coach Carolyn Peck and WNBA player A’ja Wilson.

In June 2021, the US Senate convened to discuss an issue central to the well-being of athletes across America: the personal rights to their NIL or Name, Image and Likeness. Over the past decade, student athletes have fought for their rights to compete and be fairly compensated. They’ve raised their voices, showed up in Congress and broadcast their concerns to millions on social media. But powerful institutions, like the NCAA, are convinced that if athletes, especially women athletes, get their way, it’ll be the end of sports as we know it: the sports apocalypse.