Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03), the only former Division I woman athlete in Congress, partnered with Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12) and Senator Chris Murphy (D-MA) to reintroduce the Fair Play for Women Act, legislation that will strengthen Title IX for college and K-12 sports. Introduction of the bicameral bill comes just hours after the Trump administration rescinded Title IX guidance designed to protect women college athletes in NIL payments and potential revenue sharing.

“Despite decades of underinvestment and neglect, women’s sports have surged in popularity, proving what women athletes have always known – there is a massive, untapped audience eager to support them,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “The Fair Play for Women Act will build on that momentum by addressing the real barriers still holding women’s sports back: Title IX loopholes that deny thousands of women and girls every day the opportunity to compete and thrive in the sports they love.”

“For too long, schools have found ways to bend the rules and shortchange women athletes—skewing the numbers, dodging accountability, and failing to meet the promise of equality. The Fair Play for Women Act strengthens Title IX enforcement, brings real transparency to college and K-12 athletics, and ensures every girl gets the same shot at success as her male peers,” said Congresswoman Adams.

“For all the progress we’ve made since Title IX, women and girls still don’t get a fair shot when it comes to sports. Schools are spending less on recruiting, facilities, and scholarships for women’s teams, and too many have bent the rules to make their numbers look better than they really are. The Fair Play for Women Act would bring real accountability and transparency to college and K-12 sports so all athletes get the support they deserve,” said Senator Murphy.

More than fifty years ago, Title IX’s passage transformed sports, helping millions more women and girls compete in athletics than ever before. Despite this progress, girls today have over a million fewer opportunities than boys to participate in high school sports and women represent just 44 percent of all college athletes despite comprising most undergraduate students. Even when women and girls compete in sports, schools often provide fewer resources in the form of worse facilities, uniforms, and equipment, along with fewer athletic scholarships and unequal promotion of their sports.

Meanwhile, the ways in which schools are held accountable for failing to comply with Title IX are ineffective or incomplete. Schools often misreport critical athletics data and public reporting of this data lacks meaningful transparency, repeated Title IX violations do not carry serious consequences to ensure schools come into compliance, and athletes are too often unaware of their rights under Title IX and how to affect change at their schools.

The Fair Play for Women Act will promote fairness in participation opportunities and institutional support for women’s and girls’ sports programs, ensure transparency and public reporting of data by college and K-12 athletic programs, hold athletic programs and athletic associations more accountable for Title IX violations and discriminatory treatment, and improve education and awareness of Title IX rights among college and K-12 athletes as well as athletics staff. Specifically, the bill will:

• Hold schools and athletic associations accountable for discriminatory treatment. The bill would codify that state and intercollegiate athletic associations, including the NCAA, cannot discriminate based on sex, along with asserting non-discrimination protections within all school-based athletics, including club and intramural sports. It would also provide a robust private right of action for all athletes in their discrimination claims, making it easier for athletes to push for change at their schools. The bill would authorize the Department of Education to levy civil penalties on schools that repeatedly discriminate against athletes and require schools to submit publicly available plans to remedy violations, providing more tools to compel compliance and resolve ongoing discrimination.

• Expand reporting requirements for college and K-12 athletics data and make all information easily accessible to the public. The bill would establish a one-stop shop for key athletics data by expanding the scope and detail of reporting by colleges, extending these requirements to include athletics at elementary and secondary schools, and requiring the Secretary of Education to house all data on the same public website. The bill also requires that schools certify the data they submit and report how they are claiming Title IX compliance, it directs the Department of Education to publish an annual report on gender equity in school-based athletics. These provisions will help weed out reporting tricks by programs to skirt non-discrimination laws and make it easier for athletes and stakeholders to evaluate persisting gaps in athletic programs or use publicly available data in their claims against schools.

• Improve education of Title IX rights among athletes, staff, and stakeholders. The bill would require Title IX trainings on an annual basis for all athletes, Title IX coordinators, and athletic department and athletic association staff. The bill would also establish a public database of all Title IX coordinators at colleges and K-12 schools, included in the one-stop shop for athletics data. These provisions will ensure all people involved with K-12 and college athletics understand what Title IX means and what students’ rights are under the law.

The legislation Introduced today was also cosponsored by Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01) and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

“Since the passage of Title IX, we’ve seen an increase in the number of female students participating in sports. Despite that increase, college women still have nearly 60,000 fewer athletics opportunities than men, and high school girls have about one million fewer opportunities to play sports than high school boys. I’m co-leading the Fair Play for Women Act to promote strong Title IX protections and compliance from K-12 schools and colleges,” said Congresswoman Bonamici.

“The Fair Play for Women Act really is about fairness—enabling women and girls to have equitable opportunities in sports and holding schools accountable when they don’t. The stark truth is that despite progress after Title IX, women and girls still face fewer opportunities than boys to participate in sports and insufficient resources for their teams. This necessary legislation will confront the continued lack of gender equity and fairness in sports,” said Senator Blumenthal.

Athlete Ally, Billie Jean King Foundation, Champion Women, Katie’s Save, National Organization for Women, National Women’s Political Caucus, The Drake Group, Voice in Sport Foundation, and Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) endorsed the legislation.

“The Fair Play for Women Act is a step in the right direction to ensure student-athletes are able to play, compete and lead – in sports and beyond – without barriers,” said WSF CEO Danette Leighton. “For 50 years and counting, the Women’s Sports Foundation has championed a simple message: when girls play, they lead and we all win! That’s why we applaud the introduction of this bill, as it seeks to create a level playing field to allow girls and women to thrive through the transformative power of sports.”

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