Should College Women Athletes Practice Against Men?

Michelle Hosick of The NCAA News has an interesting piece about the progress of legislation in the NCAA that would authorize womens' sports teams to practice against male athletes in scrimmages and the like. At their April meetings, the Division I and Division II Management Councils referred the matter to committees for further study. The article does a good job of sketching the arguments on both sides of this issue. On the one hand, allowing womens' teams starters to practice against male athletes means that "bench" players from the womens' teams, to whom those practice duties would otherwise fall, get a more limited participation opportunity. On the other hand, bringing in the best male athletes to practice against female athletes might elevate the level of competition in female college sports. These two sides, of course, reflect two very different views of college athletics: Are college athletics meant to provide participation opportunities, or are they meant to produce the most competititve and profitable product for televised consumption?