CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In the rapidly evolving world of college athletics, the state Senate has taken a step to ensure the financial viability of women’s sports.
The Women’s Collegiate Sports Protection Act, SB 502, was approved by the Senate and is now being considered by the House Education Committee.
It creates permanent endowment funds intended to support women’s sports. Over time, the funds are meant to represent a consistent revenue stream for scholarships, coaching, and facilities.
Sen. Jay Taylor, R-Taylor, is the lead sponsor of the bill and said it will shield women’s sports from market volatility and shifty funding priorities. He says, with rumors flying around that some student-athletes could become employees or even engage in collective bargaining in the future, he wanted to make certain women’s sports were not left behind.
“This bill would help protect in case some of that stuff happens, they become employees, and then Title IX doesn’t really apply, this would. If we can get these endowments set up for both universities, then that would help protect the women’s sports so that they’ve got a source of revenue for that,” Taylor said.
West Virginia University, in a statement, expressed support for the bill, “which creates an optional endowment fund and is an important next step in helping to ensure women’s collegiate Olympic sports programs are available to our student-athletes in the rapidly changing NIL landscape.”
Taylor added that an endowment fund, like the one proposed in the bill, could have been used to help the Marshall Swimming and Diving program. The university announced in February that it was eliminating the program because of financial considerations.
“Hopefully, this would allow it so that, if Marshall would get this and get this going good and have that funding set up, they’d be like, ‘Hey, we’ve got some extra money here, let’s bring that back,’” hoped Taylor.
State money would not be used to seed the endowment fund. It would be built through private donations and other grant opportunities. The Senate Finance Committee amended the bill and removed a section that would have provided tax credits for donors and matching state funds. The bill only creates the mechanism for the endowment fund.
“That helps make it a lot easier,” said Taylor about getting support for the bill.
Earnings from a women’s athletics endowment may be used only for scholarships, coaching and training staff, equipment, facilities, travel, and other expenses directly related to women’s collegiate Olympic sports programs.
The bill has yet to make an agenda before the House Education Committee with less than a week to go before the end of the regular legislative session.