In April, during the NCAA Championship Final Four at Lucas Petroleum Stadium in Indianapolis, fans pose for the Final Four logo before the college basketball game. AJ mast/AP hide caption

In April, during the NCAA Championship Final Four at Lucas Petroleum Stadium in Indianapolis, fans pose for the Final Four logo before the college basketball game.

A highly anticipated external review found that the NCAA had treated women's games unfairly for many years, underestimating their value and underfunding them.

The report, led by the New York law firm Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, recommended reforms to the NCAA basketball program. It requires the joint organization of the semi-finals and changes to the organization’s leadership structure, media contracts and revenue calculations.

In March of this year, the NCAA came under fire after University of Oregon basketball player Sedona Prince released a video about the minimum equipment in the organization’s championship women’s weight room. This video immediately caused a sensation on TikTok, showing that the NCAA did not provide women's I-level basketball teams with the luxury facilities it provided for men's games. Soon after, the NCAA commissioned a review.

Now, this 113-page report has found evidence of "systemic gender inequality" in the NCAA.

The report pointed out: "With regard to the women's basketball, NCAA has not fulfilled its commitment to'diversity, inclusiveness and gender equality among student athletes, coaches and managers'."

The report described the underestimation of the women's team as "continuing the false statement that the women's basketball team is destined to'lost' year after year. This is not the case."

It pointed to an increasing number of TV viewers and female players with "large followers on social media" and stated that the NCAA could negotiate higher fees to cover women's games.

The report found that the NCAA’s treatment of women’s teams has many gender inequalities, including poor COVID-19 testing and poor food quality for the women’s teams, while also seeking to compete with Wendy, Pizza Hut and Buffalo Wild Wings. Sponsored by corporate food to feed men's game players.

The report stated that the NCAA spent $2.4 million on the men's tournament signage, while the women's championship signage cost only $783,000, adding to the factors that make the two events "very different in look and feel." The organization has repeatedly denied that the organizers of the women's championship use the March Madness trademark on any promotional materials.

After the gap in the women's game was exposed this spring, the NCAA apologized, but also pointed out that the income of women's games is lower than that of men's games. However, the review found that the NCAA had "distorted" the calculations published by the organization in a fact sheet, claiming that the women's basketball team had lost money.

An external review found that the systemic differences were partly due to the fundamental financial agreement of the NCAA and its member schools. According to the report, the agreement “is designed to maximize the value and support of the first-level men’s basketball tournament and use it as the main source of the NCAA and its member schools. Its members’ funds."

A statement from the NCAA Board of Directors stated that the organization is "fully committed to a fair experience in its tournaments."

The statement read: "We know that this is not always the case. The example of the I-level women's basketball tournament is an important driving force for us to improve the championship experience, so we will not repeat it." "This report provides useful information for improving our tournament. guide."

The statement added that the board of directors has instructed the NCAA chairman to “take urgent action to resolve any organizational issues” and called on him to begin work this week to outline NCAA’s next steps.

Josie Fischels is an intern at the NPR News Channel.