logo
USOPC asks for tweak of college sports bill to set minimum spending limits for Olympic programs

USOPC asks for tweak of college sports bill to set minimum spending limits for Olympic programs

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee leaders are pushing lawmakers for tweaks to legislation that would regulate college sports by adding guarantees that schools will spend the same percentage on Olympic programs in the future as they do now.
USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland told The Associated Press on Monday that a letter she and chair Gene Sykes sent to members of Congress last week was intended to restart a conversation about the SCORE Act, which currently calls for schools to sponsor at least 16 teams.
That's a number that conforms with current NCAA rules for Power Four schools, and one that Hirshland worries would give schools no incentive to fund non-revenue sports that power the Olympic pipeline.
'You look and you say, 'Is that effectively going to thwart the issue of allocating too many resources to football and not enough to other things?' And my assessment is, no, it's not going to do that,' Hirshland said.
The USOPC says all but three of the 67 Power Four schools sponsor more than 16 sports and the average school in that group has more than 21.
At last year's Paris Olympics, 75% of U.S. Olympians and 53% of Paralympians had a connection with U.S. college sports.
The SCORE Act recently passed a House subcommittee and is set for markup this week, a process in which lawmakers amend certain facets of the bill. Hirshland said USOPC leadership has long been in discussions about adding provisions that would compel schools to spend at least the same percentage on Olympic sports as they do now.
'The bill, as it's written, would make it too easy for a school to starve 15 programs and invest in one,' Hirshland said. 'It's important schools have the latitude to make decisions that are most effective for the school, but while also creating an environment that says 'You don't just need to be a football school.''
She said she was encouraged that lawmakers were including provisions for protecting Olympic sports in a bill that would regulate the shifting college landscape.
The SCORE Act proposes to provide limited antitrust protection for the NCAA and would place the college sports' name, image, likeness system under one federal law instead of a mishmash of state regulations.
Starting this month, schools are allowed to pay up to $20.5 million to athletes in NIL deals. Most of that money will be funneled to football and basketball players, whose sports generate the bulk of college athletics revenue. It has left many to wonder about the future of the Olympic programs.
The act also includes a section that purports to protect Olympic sports with the 16-team minimum, but in the letter to House leaders, Sykes and Hirshland were skeptical of that.
'The USOPC is committed to being a partner in this process and would welcome the opportunity to share further insights, data, and recommendations,' they wrote.
It also mandates that athletes not be turned into employees of their schools, a sticking point for some Democrats that figures to keep the bill from moving along in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to pass.
Thursdays
Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.
Hirshland said the USOPC hasn't taken a 'strong position' on the employment issue, and is mostly concerned that any legislation includes strong protection for Olympic sports.
She says the USOPC-backed idea of keeping spending at certain percentages isn't the only answer to the issue, but might be the simplest and best.
'We don't want schools to starve Olympic sports by cutting them or starving them,' she said. 'We want them to continue to provide investment in the growth of these sports.'
___
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Five Canadian medal contenders to watch at world swimming championships
Five Canadian medal contenders to watch at world swimming championships

Winnipeg Free Press

timean hour ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

Five Canadian medal contenders to watch at world swimming championships

Canada is sending a powerhouse swimming squad to the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, with several top medal contenders hitting the pool when competition begins Saturday. Here are five Canadian medal contenders to watch at the worlds: Summer McIntosh The 18-year-old set three world records and five Canadian records while qualifying in five events at the Canadian swim trials. The Toronto native became the first swimmer to break three different individual long-course world records in one meet since American Michael Phelps at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Despite that, McIntosh believes she can be even faster at the world championships. She's coming off a four-medal showing (three gold, one silver) at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, where she became the first Canadian athlete to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games. Josh Liendo Liendo, 22, won silver in the men's 100-metre butterfly in his Olympic debut in Paris last year. Now, the Toronto native looks to add to his world championship medal haul, which stands at four. He earned three medals at the 2022 worlds (one silver, two bronze) and another silver in 2023 in the 100 butterfly. Ilya Kharun The 20-year-old Montreal native was on the very same podium as Liendo, taking bronze in the 100 butterfly in Paris. But he also earned bronze in the 200 butterfly in his Olympic debut. At swim trials in Victoria, Kharun also got the better of Liendo in the 100 by 0.9 seconds. Kharun has seven short-course world championship medals (one gold, four silver, two bronze) but will be in search of his first world championship medal in Singapore. Kylie Masse The Lasalle, Ont., product has been a staple on Canada's successful women's program over the years, both individually and in relay events. Masse, 29, has amassed five Olympic medals (two silver, three bronze) and nine world championship medals (three gold, one silver, five bronze) over her career. Masse, who specializes in the backstroke, said she's put 'a little more focus' into the 50-metre event after winning at nationals. Finlay Knox Knox is slated to defend his world title after cruising to victory in the 200 individual medley at Canadian swim trials in one minute 57.25 seconds. The 24-year-old from Okotoks, Alta., outdid his time at the Paris Games by one-hundredth of a second at the trials, while leaving room to show even more at worlds with his 2024 world-title winning time being 1:56.64 and his national record of 1:56.07. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 9, 2025.

Canada's backstroke big-gamer Kylie Masse focused on worlds, not 2028  L.A. Olympics
Canada's backstroke big-gamer Kylie Masse focused on worlds, not 2028  L.A. Olympics

Winnipeg Free Press

timean hour ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

Canada's backstroke big-gamer Kylie Masse focused on worlds, not 2028 L.A. Olympics

The best women's backstroker Canada has ever produced refuses to look deep into the future. Five-time Olympic medallist Kylie Masse of LaSalle, Ont., has her mind on the world swimming championship starting Saturday in Singapore, and not on Los Angeles in 2028. The 50-metre backstroke added to the Olympic swim program in 2028 seems a boon for one of the best in the world at it, but the 29-year-old has yet to decide if she'll compete in her fourth Olympic Games. 'I am still in a position where I'm just kind of taking it moment by moment and figuring it out, and I'm not really putting any pressure on myself to commit to that at this point,' Masse said. 'I am excited to see what I can do in it this year, but as far as 2028, I'm just kind of taking it day by day.' The 50 backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly have long been staples of world championships, but those sprints will make their Olympic debuts in L.A. Masse won a world championship in the 50 backstroke in 2022. She was first at the turn of the 100 in Tokyo in 2021 en route to an Olympic silver medal. The Canadian and American Regan Smith were tied for first at the half of last year's 100 in Paris, where Masse settled for fourth. She won bronze in the 200 backstroke, however, and became the first Canadian swimmer to earn a medal in three consecutive Olympic Games. The athlete able to combine the most power and the best technique wins the 50 metres, Masse said. 'Because it happens so fast, there's no room for error,' she explained. After the longest post-Olympic break of her career — during which she took time to reflect — Masse eased back into the water in October. Now, she heads to her fifth long-course world championship, where she's already collected nine medals, including three gold.' 'I spent many days contemplating what I wanted to do and if I wanted to keep swimming or how much I wanted to keep swimming,' Masse said. 'I kind of realized I still love swimming and I wanted to keep swimming, not to the same capacity as I was swimming before, but I still wanted to be in the water and be competitive. I had a good (Canadian) trials and I was pleasantly surprised and happy with that, and I'm really looking forward to getting to Singapore and just being able to represent Canada again.' Masse is the veteran of Canada's 28-swimmer squad that boasts 18-year-old phenom Summer McIntosh, who is poised to make more history. The Toronto teen followed up her triple-gold, four-medal performance in Paris by setting three world records at June's trials in Victoria — in the 200 and 400 individual medleys, and the 400 freestyle. 'It's been incredible to watch her grow and to have trained with her when she was 14, just kind of coming onto the scene,' Masse said. 'It's super-exciting for our whole team and for the country, and for the swimming world in general, to just have someone of that calibre continuing to push the boundaries of history.' McIntosh will also race the 200 butterfly and 800 freestyle in Singapore, with a highly-anticipated showdown with American star Katie Ledecky in the 800 free Aug. 2. McIntosh's potential participation in relays could add to another medal haul. Her ambitious program gets underway with Saturday's 400 freestyle heats followed by Sunday's final. Finlay Knox of Okotoks, Alta., is the reigning men's 200 individual medley world champion after claiming the title in 2024 in Doha, Qatar. Toronto's Joshua Liendo and Montreal's Ilya Kharun, who took Olympic silver and bronze, respectively, in the 100 butterfly, are contenders in that distance, plus the 50 fly, which is also now part of L.A.'s Games. Singapore offers a prize money purse of US$3.1 million for pool and open-water swimmers, plus a $30,000 bonus to swimmers who break world records. 'Part of our strategic plan is that Swimming Canada aspires to be a top-six swimming nation,' Swimming Canada high-performance director John Atkinson said. 'I think the program has developed to the point where you have to say that we would target being the top four nations on the medal table.' Canada's team will be minus Penny Oleksiak, who won the women's 100 and 50 freestyle at trials. She withdrew from the world championship because of a 'whereabouts' issue under anti-doping rules. The World Anti-Doping Code (WADA) defines a whereabouts failure as any combination of three missed tests or filing failures in a 12-month period, which the International Testing Agency stated Oleksiak did between October 2024 and June 2025. She's accepted a provisional suspension for what Swimming Canada called an 'administrative mistake' in not keeping her whereabouts information up to date. Even with closer McIntosh and veteran Marie-Sophie Harvey, Oleksiak's absence makes Canada less deep in freestyle relay experience. 'It's a loss. I feel for the athlete as a person having made the decision to withdraw before going over there, a hard decision for any athlete to take, but (she) did it in the interests of the team,' Atkinson said. 'Her voluntary withdrawal, putting the team first, is all very admirable. 'Now the team also has to look ahead and say 'we're the athletes that are here' and it gives opportunities to other athletes on the team to say 'what can you all do, how can you step up and get us through the prelims and race in the finals?'' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2025.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store