| The current study is a content analysis of the gender and individual sport team coverage provided on intercollegiate athletic websites. In addition to providing insight into the gender and individual sport team coverage allocations, the current study demonstrates additional depth by focusing on the coverage provided within the following four units of measurement: advertisements, articles, multimedia, and photographs. Furthermore, the study also examines the non-scroll coverage provided to the female and male teams included in the study.;One of the primary reasons why the study is necessary is because it examines a media outlet with Title IX implications. Because the study focuses on intercollegiate athletic websites, the expectation would be that both females and males in the study would receive equitable coverage. Overall, when focusing on the entire 18 team sample, the results demonstrated a statistically significant difference in the 37.5% participation rate provided to females when in comparison to males. Furthermore, the results revealed a statistically significant difference in the coverage provided to females within the unit of measurement when in comparison to males. Particularly, females were severely underrepresented in the advertisement (29.3%) and multimedia (21.9%) units of measurement. The results also showed that females received less favorable non-scroll coverage when in comparison to overall coverage rates.;The study also examined the individual sport team coverage provided on intercollegiate athletic websites. Overall, when focusing solely on coverage rates, the results revealed that men's baseball, men's basketball, men's football, and women's basketball received a majority of the coverage. Particularly, the teams received significant amounts of coverage within the advertisement (82.5%) and multimedia (85.6%) units of measurement. Similarly, when focusing on the difference between individual team coverage rates and coinciding NCAA individual team participation rates, the results revealed that men's and women's basketball received coverage allocations exceeding their coinciding team participation by at least eight percent within each of the units of measurement analyzed. As a result, many of the remaining nonrevenue sport teams received coverage rates below their coinciding team participation rates. Similar results were reported within the non-scroll coverage included in the study. |
