Quick Hits

• The NCAA Board of Governors voted to adopt an updated transgender athlete participation policy that prohibits athletes assigned male at birth from competing in NCAA women’s competitions.
• The new policy aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
• The executive order takes the position that allowing transgender participation in women’s sports undermines the fairness and opportunities for women and girls and threatens federal funding for educational programs that do not comply.
• The NCAA aims to establish clear national eligibility standards in response to the differing state laws and court decisions surrounding this issue.

Under the updated participation policy for transgender athletes, “[r]egardless of sex assigned at birth or gender identity, a student-athlete may participate (practice and competition) in NCAA men’s sports, assuming they meet all other NCAA eligibility requirements.”

For women’s sports, “[a] student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete for an NCAA women’s team.” However, such student-athletes “may continue practicing with a women’s team and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes.” “A student-athlete assigned female at birth who has begun hormone therapy (e.g., testosterone) may not compete on a women’s team.” However, they, too, may continue practicing with a women’s team and receive all other applicable benefits. 

“We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement.

The change comes a day after President Trump signed an EO titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” The EO states that allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports “is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”

While not directly addressing the NCAA, the EO declared that it is “the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy.”

The EO had significant implications for the NCAA schools, which rely on federal funding. After the EO, NCAA President Baker said that the Board of Governors would “take necessary steps to align NCAA policy” with the EO.

Under the NCAA’s prior policy, adopted by the Board of Governors in January 2022, transgender women athletes were allowed to compete in NCAA women’s sports after submitting documentation of “gender affirming treatment” by a medical professional and evidence that their testosterone levels are “within the allowable levels for the sport” in which they plan to compete.

In addition, NCAA schools are faced with shifting interpretations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which requires that schools provide equal opportunity to students, regardless of sex, including in terms of sports participation and “athletic financial assistance.”

On January 9, 2025, a federal court in Kentucky vacated a Biden-era U.S. Department of Education rule on Title IX adopted in 2024, which expanded the definition of sex-based harassment to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The Department of Education has since confirmed that it will enforce Title IX under a 2020 rule issued during President Trump’s first term.

The recent actions align with President Trump’s inauguration day EO 14168, titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which directed federal agencies to “enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protections, opportunities, and accommodations to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes.”

Next Steps

The new NCAA participation policy will have significant implications for transgender athletes currently competing or seeking to compete in NCAA sports, likely meaning that they will no longer be able to compete in NCAA women’s competitions. Baker’s statements further indicate the NCAA’s desire for national standards in an era that has seen major changes to college sports and eligibility rules pushed by antitrust litigation and an inconsistent patchwork of state laws and regulations, including changes to athlete transfers, the allowance of compensation for name, image, and likeness, and the potential adoption of revenue sharing.

Ogletree Deakins will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Higher Education, and Sports and Entertainment blogs.

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