With the World Cup approaching, an organization that advocates Title IX reform released a report lamenting the lack of growth in men's soccer at top athletic programs.
Only 59 percent of Division I programs offer men's soccer, according to the College Sports Council's study. That's a far cry from the 93 percent that offer women's soccer - and the CSC says the disparity is because of Title IX and the way schools try to comply with it.
That conclusion was met with a stern rebuttal from both the NCAA and the Women's Sports Foundation, with the latter group saying the law tries to create equal opportunities for male and female athletes but does not force schools to forsake certain sports or offer others.
The CSC's report, released Thursday, points out that there were 197 men's soccer teams in Division I in 2008-09, the same number as in 1995-96. Over that same period, the number of women's teams increased from 189 to 310.
``Men's soccer has really been harmed,'' said Eric Pearson, chairman of the CSC. ``Since 1996, the growth of the sport at the collegiate level has been held back.''
Schools have three ways to comply with Title IX: Match the proportion of female athletes to the proportion of women on campus; show a history of increasing sports for women; or prove the school has met the interest and ability of women to participate in athletics.
Pearson contends that a 1996 declaration by the U.S. Office of Civil Rights encouraged schools to focus on proportionality.
``Our argument here is that it's the proportionality prong that has created a gender quota that is limiting the growth of soccer teams,'' Pearson said. ``From '96 on, there was an increased emphasis of schools just focusing on proportionality and limiting men's teams.''
Nancy Hogshead-Makar, the Women's Sports Foundation's incoming senior director of advocacy, insists the CSC's study is overly simplistic. She says although schools might use proportionality to comply with the law, they still have plenty of flexibility.
``The law doesn't care if an athlete is wearing a football uniform or a soccer uniform or a swimsuit or a fencing uniform. ... All they care about is: Are you providing boys and girls, men and women, with equal educational opportunities?'' Hogshead-Makar said. ``Individual schools make those choices. The law doesn't dictate what sports schools offer at all.''
In other words, if men's soccer doesn't exist at a school, that might be because that school is offering another sport - such as football - with scholarship opportunities for men and not women. In the Southeastern Conference - where millions are spent every year on football - all 12 schools have women's soccer teams. On the men's side, the landscape is so empty that Kentucky and South Carolina play soccer in Conference USA.
Meanwhile, in Division III - where football is much less of a big business - 90 percent of the schools offered men's soccer teams in 2008-09, according to the CSC's study. That's up from 81 percent in '95-96. Among women's teams, the increase was from 78 percent to 95 percent.
Karen Morrison, the NCAA's director of gender initiatives, criticized the CSC's report.
``The CSC continues to bend the data like an errant soccer kick when describing trends in intercollegiate athletics and in particular college soccer,'' Morrison said in a statement. ``Soccer continues to grow in popularity around the world and on our campuses. It is one of the four fastest-growing men's sports in the NCAA. There is no evidence that the relatively minor differences overall in soccer participation are related to Title IX.''
