NCAA president boasts SJSU women’s volleyball TV ratings amid trans athlete controversy and lawsuits
NCAA President Charlie Baker claimed television ratings for the NCAA women’s volleyball During an interview on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” Thursday, the tournament is up “100%” this year.
The wave is just coming a year later The 2023 tournament saw a 115% increase over 2022.
“The ratings are up a little bit this year as well, another 100%,” Baker said during the interview. “People like to see competition. People like to see young people compete, and we need to stop talking about sports other than football and basketball as ‘non-revenue’.”
Prior to Thursday night’s semifinal matchup between Pittsburgh against Louisville and Penn State against Nebraska, Baker noted the increase in attendance.
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This year’s tournament featured San Jose State’s appearance amid the national controversy that has overshadowed much of the college softball season. San Jose State softball player Brooke Slusser has an active lawsuit against the NCAA and is leading another lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference with several other players.
The lawsuits allege that Slusser and other players were forced to compete against transgender player Blaire Fleming without any information about Fleming’s natural birth gender. Controversy and the team’s season-long retention of a transgender athlete resulted in seven regular-season losses and a conference tournament semifinal loss.
It was an unprecedented losing streak in sports history. The response to the situation resulted in threats against Slusser and the addition of police protection for the team at all home and away games this year, Fox News Digital previously reported.
The controversy even drew criticism from Donald Trump during a Fox News town hall in October.
San Jose State previously approved Fox News Digital told Fox News Digital that the team did not inform any of its opponents about Fleming’s schedule throughout the season, unless it coordinated police protection.
The inclusion of a transgender player was even challenged in court. Slusser and other players involved in his lawsuit tried to get Fleming kicked out of the Mountain West tournament.
SJSU transgender player Blaire Fleming, left, and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and spent Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite the ongoing controversy over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews ruled that the plaintiffs’ request for an extraordinary delay was “unreasonable” and would “increase the risk of confusion and months of planning and, at the very least, harm,” allowing Fleming (San Jose State) and other teams in the tournament to play. .”
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So Fleming, Slusser and the rest of the SJSU Spartans traveled to Las Vegas for the tournament and even received a first-round bye thanks to six conference games lost by opponents.
Boise State has already lost two regular-season games at San Jose State amid controversy because the university’s home state of Idaho has an ordinance banning transgender athletes from women’s sports. So after Boise State defeated Utah State in the quarterfinals, the Broncos lost for the third time in the semifinals to send San Jose State to the championship match.
San Jose State University Spartans head coach Todd Kress talks to reporters after the NCAA Mountain West women’s softball game against the Colorado State University Rams on Oct. 3, 2024, in Fort Collins. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Colorado State beat San Jose State in the finals, keeping Fleming and the Spartans out of the NCAA tournament.
After that match, Spartans head coach Todd Kress made a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Each forfeiture announcement has delivered horrific, hateful messages that individuals have chosen to send directly to our student-athletes, coaching staff and many others associated with our program,” Kress said.
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