New Research Addresses Discrimination in Ticket Prices

A new report by researchers at the Wellesley Centers for Women examines the gender gap in ticket prices for Division I college basketball. Significantly, the report explains that ticket prices are set by athletic departments' own judgments of the value of women's sports, rather than by market forces. As the abstract states, "This distinction is critical because previous research shows that lower-priced events are perceived as lower quality and less worth watching or attending." In other words, athletic departments are creating, not responding to, lower demand and attendance for women's sports.