Is Mat Ishbia Leading UWM Into A Title IX Lawsuit?

When United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia announced his company would be paying $6,000 stipends to all 133 Michigan State University men’s basketball and football players this school year, some sports fans cheered. But advocates for women’s issues and equity jeered. Ishbia and UWM are longtime supporters of Spartan sports, so it was no surprise when he announced nearly $800,000 in company-funded stipends to all football and basketball players for the 2021-22 school year under the NCAA’s new “Name, Image and Likeness” (NIL) rules. But the lack of support for women’s sports did not go unnoticed. “In 2021, this sort of blatant sexism is unacceptable,” Democratic Michigan state Representative Laurie Pohutsky said when Ishbia announced his plan. “All athletes, regardless of their…