THE TOWER AMENDMENT
In 1974, two years after Title IX was passed, many were still questioning what its lasting effects would be. Director of the NCAA, Walter Byers, declared that the law would lead to the "possible doom of intercollegiate sports," which many strongly agreed with. According to Let Me Play by Karen Blumenthal, "In May 1974, on a relatively slow day in the Senate, Mr. Tower [of Texas] quietly proposed changing a pending education bill to insist that Title IX rules couldn't apply to any sports that brought in money from ticket sales." These sports, mainly football and basketball, had huge budgets already established for men, which coaches wanted untouched by other programs, especially women's programs. But, as Blumenthal added, "How even could the balance be if the 105 spots on a football team at the time--and the 105 athletic scholarships that went along with them--didn't count at all?" Instead of the Tower Amendment, the Senate passed a new version of Title IX that noted that when comparing budgets for women and men, cost differences in different sports must be taken into account.