The NCAA recently published a statement to their website, coming out in support of the participation of trans student-athletes in college sports. The statement outlined the organization’s policy on trans athletes, that their “approach, which requires testosterone suppression treatment for transgender women to compete in women’s sports, embraces the evolving science on this issue.”
The participation of trans athletes in sports has been heavily debated, especially in the last few months, with both congressional and state representatives introducing bills that aim to separate trans youth in sports by their sex. The bills have stated that “sex shall be recognized solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”
Recent studies have shown that the testosterone suppression treatments required for trans women who wish to participate in NCAA sports fail to alleviate their performance advantage. Performance advantage is one of the key components of the argument against allowing trans individuals to compete in sports. One study published in December 2020, stated that the performance gap between males and females becomes significant at puberty and often amounts to 10 to 50 percent depending on the sport.
After one year of the testosterone suppression treatment, the loss of muscle mass only amounts to 5 percent, leaving trans women to maintain a significant physical advantage over cis women. The testosterone suppression treatments could also be detrimental to the mental health of trans women as many trans people do not wish to engage in any hormone treatment whatsoever. Making that a caveat to participation in sports puts up barriers to trans women who do not feel comfortable with that type of treatment.
In their statement, the NCAA also announced that they would not consider hosting their championship games in any of the states where anti-trans legislation was introduced. Despite the statement’s alignment with equality and support of their athletes, the NCAA has had a history of inequality towards their student participants. According to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, college athletes in the United States are barred from receiving any of the profits from their participation, despite the total ticket revenues for both the NCAA football and basketball exceeding those of professional baseball, football, and hockey combined. This amounts to millions of dollars each year.
In addition, the NCAA receives more than $1 billion each year from ad revenue alone, more than the Super Bowl acquires from their advertisers. The same study also found that the NCAA “transfers resources away from students who are more likely to be Black and more likely to come from poor neighborhoods toward students who are more likely to be white and come from higher-income neighborhoods.”
The statement of trans inclusion from the NCAA was the result of pressure from activists pushing for support from the organization. With 73 percent of Americans in support of trans participation in sports, many found it vital that the NCAA actively take a stance to uplift trans athletes.
