Thanks, that's a lot of info. While true that Title IX is to protect against discrimination against any student, the impetus behind the law was gender equity. As it relates to athletics, the main thrust of the legislation is to provide equality in expenditures. Prior to Title IX, female participation in sports, particularly at the high school and college levels was miniscule. This is no longer the case. If all sports were able to self-fund the cost of coaches, staffs, uniforms, scholarships, etc, to match the demand of female athletes, this would be a moot point and athletics would not need to be included in Title IX. Hence why I mentioned the revenue-generating capacity of women's sports as that is fundamental to self-funding. I should have been more specific in that I meant to address Title IX only as it relates to athletics. I don't want to go too much deeper for fear of hijacking the thread further, although from what you said, the main reason that the ACC seemingly can't expand from within is that the member schools without a men's lax team can't afford to add a competitive one without falling (further) afoul under Title IX .