After the crowds have gone home: Thinking about the future of women's sports coverage

Women's college basketball was in the spotlight Tuesday night in front of a sold-out crowd in Cleveland, demonstrating the drawing power of women's team sports. Yet, still, we all know the lowly status women's sports generally take in media coverage. During a pre-tournament event for aspiring high school and college sports journalists, ESPN's Mechelle Voepel talked about how economic pressures combined with old-fashioned attitudes keep women's sports from getting coverage. She added: "It's not completely a male-female thing...It's a generational thing." Young men realize, she said, "both sexes can share." She also said that recent coverage of problems in programs at LSU and Penn State are ultimately good for women's basketball: "The usually expose something that is difficult or needs to be taken care of in college athletics."