San Jose State asked schools for money over ‘arbitrary’ forfeits despite having a male player on its women’s volleyball team
Shocking documents have revealed that San Jose State University asked other schools for financial compensation after they forfeited against SJSU, following reports that SJSU has a male athlete on its women’s volleyball team.
SJSU features a 6’1″ male — Blaire Fleming, born Brayden — on its roster, which has resulted in five schools issuing forfeits: Boise State, Nevada, Southern Utah, Utah State, and Wyoming.
Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request to Boise State, it has been confirmed that SJSU asked for money from two of those schools over alleged lost revenue from home games.
‘I would ask to be made whole at the very least.’
Through the FOIA request, it was revealed that Jeff Konya, San Jose State athletics director, sent an email to Boise State Athletics Director Jeremiah Dickey asking for compensation for its September 28 forfeit.
“Your institution’s arbitrary decision not to play an otherwise eligible NCAA team has resulted in harm to SJSU financially and our institution’s brand,” Konya wrote, according to OutKick.
Konya claimed just over $1,000 was lost when factoring all game-day revenue streams.
“We estimate we missed out on approximately $1,250 in game day revenue by not playing the [match] on Saturday when you add all of the various revenue sources (i.e., concessions, parking among others). I would ask to be made whole at the very least,” the SJSU exec wrote.
OutKick confirmed with SJSU that it asked both Boise State and Utah State — who forfeited an October 23 game — for compensation in the same amount.
SJSU did not ask for money from Nevada, Southern Utah, or Wyoming, however.
While its October 26 game against Nevada was moved to SJSU’s campus, this was only a formality to prevent SJSU from having to travel to Reno to accept the forfeit.
SJSU staff has remained fairly silent over the ordeal, largely ignoring the issue at hand while claiming the true injustice came in the form of denying their athletes a chance to play.
“I know that it’s definitely taken a toll on many of them. They’re receiving messages of hate, which is completely ridiculous to me,” coach Todd Kress said in mid-October.
“When we had our first forfeit, there was a lot of heartbreak,” the coach continued. “And now, we’ve kind of, not come to expect it, but we know the certain programs that may forfeit. It still does hurt our student athletes when we don’t play a match, but I think they’ve come to accept it a little more, and I think that’s a very unfortunate thing to say.”
However, SJSU player Brooke Slusser painted a different picture, stating that meetings with school officials have predominantly focused on the well-being of Fleming, not his female teammates.
Over at Nevada, women’s volleyball captain Sia Liilii made shocking allegations against her school’s athletic director after players organized the forfeit.
Liilii said players were told they “weren’t educated enough” on the topic, and “didn’t understand the science” behind transgenderism. Liilii also said Nevada Athletic Director Stephanie Rempe told the girls that it was actually Fleming who is “at a disadvantage” when competing against women, due to being on testosterone blockers and estrogen supplements.
In a statement to Blaze News, Rempe firmly denied the accusations made against her and said she did not say those things.
When asked whether or not Rempe believes that men or “transgender women” should be able to compete in the female category of NCAA athletics, a Nevada spokesperson simply said the school “stands by” its statement.
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