The new women’s basketball league Project B said it will follow Olympic guidelines regarding gender eligibility, thereby banning transgender women from competing.
As a global league, Project B told Front Office Sports it makes sense to follow International Olympic Committee and FIBA policies to provide “consistency and confidence for players and stakeholders.”
The IOC announced a new policy in March that bans transgender women from competing in female categories, saying it “protects fairness, safety and integrity.” The following month, FIBA announced it would follow the IOC’s policy.
Project B appears to be trying to get ahead of an issue that has become a hot topic in the WNBA this season.
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham found herself at the center of the storm after telling ESPN in a profile last month that she wants “to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
The comment drew support from groups seeking to “protect” women’s sports but was also met with resistance from activists for trans rights and from some WNBA coaches and players.
“We need to protect trans kids,” Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “To me, it’s a human rights issue. Every kid has a right to sports.”
Last Friday, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert informed teams in a memo that the “complex and nuanced topic” of transgender participation will be discussed at an upcoming meeting of team executives.
The WNBPA later released a statement denouncing “hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people.”
Former WNBA star and Project B co-founder Alana Beard told Front Office Sports that she was disappointed in the WNBA’s leadership for not taking a stand.
“Where’s the accountability, the integrity, the intentionality?” said Beard, who is also the new league’s chief basketball officer. “All of it is needed right now, in what could become one of the most defining moments in the history of the sport.”
Project B is scheduled to launch in January and the six-team, five-on-five league is focused on “creating joy and delivering the highest quality of basketball,” Beard said.
Cunningham is among more than a dozen WNBA stars who have signed on with Project B, along with Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd, New York Liberty center Jonquel Jones and Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike.
–Field Level Media
