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Threat of Title IX Lawsuit Causes Florida Athletic Association to Reverse Course

By Rick Karcher, Michael McCann, Geoffrey Rapp, Greg Skidmore, and Howard Wasserman

State high school athletic officials in Florida recently exempted the lucrative sport of football from widespread scheduling cuts that were aimed at easing the financial burden on schools. However, under threat of a Title IX federal lawsuit, yesterday the Florida High School Athletic Association reversed course and abandoned the scheduling cuts to other sports. The lawsuit claimed that exempting football violated gender-equity laws. Katie Thomas of the New York Times has the scoop ("Florida Drops Budget Plan That Favored Prep Football"). Thomas interviewed my colleague and Title IX expert, Nancy Hogshead-Makar, who represented the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and stated her case in front of the FHSAA board at an emergency meeting two days before the parties were to appear in court. Congratulations, Nancy!

Full post as published by Sports Law Blog on July 16, 2009 (boomark / email).