Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishTAMPA — The introduction of revenue sharing in college athletics could ruin the competitive gains women’s basketball has made in the last decade-plus, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said on Thursday.“It will ruin parity. That’s No. 1,” Auriemma said at Amalie Arena ahead of UConn’s 24th Final Four appearance. “I’m for revenue sharing. There will be less parity in the game of basketball.”AdvertisementThe Huskies, who won a record 11 national championships, and Tennessee, eight-time national champions, ran the women’s basketball world for much of its existence under the NCAA governance. Over the last few Final Fours, coaches have praised the increase in parity with more teams annually in position to win a national championship.“Now that’s all going to go away,” Auriemma said. “Now it will become like college football, where in every conference, and as the conferences get bigger — think about it, there’s 18 teams in the Big Ten for now. I would venture to say eight of those teams will never get to the championship game in any sport.”Beginning this summer, schools can share up to $20.5 million in revenue directly with athletes under rev-sharing guidelines. Most college athletic departments plan to use the majority of that cap on football and men’s basketball, and it will vary by institution. Initially, the Office of Civil Rights issued a memo that Title IX would apply to rev-sharing, but the guidance was rescinded in February after the latest presidential election.“As the money now drives it, there’s going to be less people that have that kind of money,” Auriemma said. “There’s going to be less of them that are going to want to give it to women’s basketball.”UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma is one of many in women’s college basketball who would like to see a change to the NCAA tournament format. (David Butler II-Imagn Images) (USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect / Reuters)For those programs that do give a portion of their revenue to women’s basketball, Auriemma is suggesting it will create the haves and have-nots fans saw in the early years of the game where many schools did not take their women’s programs seriously.Advertisement“When you do those kind of things and it’s money-driven, it’s going to be, who is going to become the Dodgers and Yankees?” Auriemma said. “And how many of those are you going to have and how many other programs in women’s basketball are going to be Milwaukee and Kansas City? Because that’s where we’re headed.”South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said the sport is on the rise to becoming a revenue-producing sport. There is more investment in women’s programs and viewership hit a peak in the 2024 national title game, eclipsing the men’s title game numbers, when the Gamecocks defeated Iowa’s Caitlin Clark squad. NCAA tournament viewership is down from last year’s average, but ranks second-highest of all time. And for the first time, women’s basketball will receive “units” for playing in the tournament.“Money talks,” Staley said. “And the more money that we can produce, the more that we can ask for more. But we’ve been held down. Like, we’ve been held down for decades, to now we’re in a good place. I think we need to go back to the table and talk about some things.”Staley said she wants to see increased units and a television deal specifically for women’s basketball instead of grouped in with other collegiate sports.AdvertisementThe three-time title-winning coach is one of the few who doesn’t want to see the regional format structure changed back to four sites, rather than the two it has used for the past three seasons. Auriemma again spoke in Tampa on the regional frustrations when asked about the issues he thinks the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) should prioritize this year under president Jose Fernandez, the South Florida head coach who will take over after the Final Four concludes.“By going to two regionals we’ve taken the game away from the people,” Auriemma said. “And I think we need to bring it back to where more people can be in the stands.”AdvertisementThe condensed schedule is also problematic in Auriemma’s eyes, and his team is the one taking the brunt of the squeezed timeline this year. UConn played its Elite Eight game on Monday night as the last team to clinch the bid around 11 p.m. ET. They flew 2,800 miles to Tampa on Tuesday and will play the Final Four on Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET against the team in its regional that flew home on Sunday.The men play their final Elite Eight game on Sunday and hold the Final Four on Saturday. Auriemma said the men’s and women’s games don’t have to be identical, and they can learn ways to enhance each tournament from each other.“But I also think we’re sometimes afraid to look at what they do that enhances their tournament and see whether or not that fits what we want to do and not be married to tradition,” he said.
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