A look at funding disparities in women’s athletics
Maryville College is home to 19 NCAA Division III varsity sports. With 40% of students participating in varsity athletics, sports are a keystone to the Fighting Scots’ culture. Out of these 19 teams, nine are exclusively women’s sports.
The disparity in funding and support between men’s and women’s teams is a common issue in high school, collegiate and professional athletics. One such disparity at MC is the addition of a new baseball team locker room.
While baseball has historically had access to field lights and a batting cage with turf flooring, softball has only had these amenities for a few years. The new batting cage for the softball team was constructed last year.
Andrew Wu, athletic director at Maryville College, observed what he believed was the cause of this discrepancy. He said that in terms of fundraising, teams like football receive more funding due to the large number of players and alumni of the sport. Women’s sports have not received the same opportunities, so there are fewer philanthropic donations to the programs.
“From a fundraising perspective, it’s a challenge,” Wu said. “It comes down to us having conversations with donors, saying, ‘It’s great you want to do this, but also we have a responsibility to support all of our student athletes, and we can’t just keep building these awesome facilities for the men’s sports, despite the fact that you, the donor, were a football player.’”
In terms of program funding from the College rather than donations, Wu discussed how funds are attributed to each team. Teams receive a budget based on the operation needs for their sport. Baseball receives a larger budget than soccer due to the equipment needed to play the sport.
Equipment and other facilities and features, including travel, that are deemed unnecessary are typically paid for with fundraising. Bayleigh Masterson, head coach of the MC softball team, explained the fundraising process for her sport. The softball team is participating in the Scot’s Wha Hae program to fundraise for the NFCA Leadoff Classic, an invitation-only top 25 tournament in Columbus, Georgia.
Resources, such as paying the entry fee for such a tournament, are not paid for by Maryville College, so the softball team must fundraise for this opportunity on their own. Jenica Brown, assistant coach of the softball team, discussed the process of receiving the new batting cage.
The project was not undertaken by the team, not by the College. Brown said she saw a small opportunity and capitalized on it, allowing the team to finally receive the batting cage they needed.
“That was not a game plan,” Brown said. “That was not laid out in the books [as a] ‘plan for 2025 and how we’re going to make it happen.’ I simply asked a question, and it got the ball rolling, [then] everybody wanted to see it come to fruition.”
Izzy Freeman (‘28), gave her perspective on how men’s and women’s athletics are perceived using her experience on the volleyball team.
“There is a stigma surrounding women’s sports in society, and unfortunately, this stigma is also prevalent on the MC campus,” Freeman said. “It is difficult to get a decent-sized crowd for our home games, and when we succeed with our goal, a majority of the audience leaves after the first set.”
Support for women’s sports is increasing, and Masterson gave her opinion on how to continue this trend for women’s athletics, saying that she has been pushing for more equity between men’s and women’s sports since she has been at MC. She said that supporting men’s athletics is something that the public is more used to in the United States.
“I think people are just drawn to [men’s athletics],” Masterson said. “And then you start to change people’s minds the more you turn on the TV and you fall in love with the passion and the heart and the drive of female athletics. I think it’s a slower progression, but [we are] starting to see [more support for women’s athletics] at all levels.”
Newly built softball batting cage. Photo courtesy of Jacey Goetzinger.