§220524 General duties of national governing bodies

Summary

National governing bodies must run their sport so more people take part across the United States and so they serve the people and groups they represent. They must work with others to reduce scheduling clashes for practices and events, keep athletes informed and include athletes’ views when making policy, and quickly send rules and rule changes to athletes, coaches, trainers, managers, administrators, and officials — including rules from the governing body and relevant international groups like international sports federations, the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, and the Pan‑American Sports Organization. They must let an athlete compete in an international amateur event unless they have evidence that the event organizer fails to meet the requirements in section 220525. They must support women’s programs when men’s and women’s programs are separate, and when athletes represent the U.S. they must provide equal pay and benefits from funds the governing body directly gives the athlete (not including competition prizes), while still allowing consideration of merit, performance, seniority, or amount of play and allowing better terms to fix outside‑income gaps, help developing programs, or meet documented need. They must press international groups to equalize prizes and support, encourage programs for athletes with disabilities, provide technical training and safety information, support sports medicine and safety research, create one or more policies that forbid staff from helping someone known to have violated sexual‑misconduct policies or convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor get a new job (except routine file transfers), promote a sports environment free from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, use information about temporary measures or sanctions to help keep athletes safe, immediately report any allegation of child abuse of a minor athlete to law enforcement, and have reporting policies consistent with sections 220541(a)(1)(C) and 220542(a)(2)(A). Nothing here removes or replaces a governing body’s duty of care under State law or common law.