Sport Equity
Fighting for Equality in Pro Sports
Eliminate Discrimination from Athletic Competitions
Coastal Commission Hearing
Feb 12, 2021
On Friday Feb 12, 2021, Sabrina Brennan made remarks at the Coastal Commission hearing and submitted a letter to the Chair of the Coastal Commission. Sport Equity concerns include gender discrimination in the Mavericks Surf Awards including a lack of parity in prize money.
Sport Equity letter
State Lands Commission Meeting
Dec 17, 2020
Applicant: Mavericks Ventures, LLC
Proposed Action: Acceptance of Lease Quitclaim Deed and Issuance of a General Lease
Authorized Use: Temporary commercial use to conduct professional surfing contests.
Term: 5 years, beginning April 30, 2021.
SLC Staff Report, Item 25
City and County of Honolulu: Bill 10 “Sport Equity” Approved without Amendment
Dec 9, 2020
On Dec 8, 2020, Sabrina Brennan submitted a letter to the Honolulu City Council regarding Bill 10 (2020). In her role as founder of Sport Equity she requested a minor amendment to strengthen the bill.
Dec 9, 2020, Bill 10, third reading, approved without amendments
Dec 8, 2020, Sport Equity Bill 10 letter
Nov 16, 2020, Sport Equity Bill 10 letter
CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU: BILL 10 “SPORT EQUITY”
Nov 16, 2020
On Nov 16, 2020, Sabrina Brennan submitted a letter to the City and County of Honolulu Committee on Parks, Community Services & Intergovernmental Affairs regarding Bill 10 (2020). In her role as founder of Sport Equity she requested a minor amendment that she hopes will help strengthen the bill and make it leading edge legislation.
Brennan said, “I’m hopeful that the City and County of Honolulu will eventually require a permit condition that insures all professional sports competitions held solely on city/county land have gendered categories and identical playing time and prize compensation for each category at each participant level.”
Sport Equity Bill 10 letter
Honolulu Parks, Community Services and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee
Jan 19, 2020
Sport Equity Letter to Councilmember/Committee Chair Heidi Tsuneyoshi and all Committee Members
Honolulu Resolution 20-12
Caltrans gender discrimination in the news:
KCBS Radio: https://omny.fm/shows/kcbsam-on-demand/sporting-gender-equity-advocate-turns-sights-on-cy
San Jose Mercury News: https://bayareane.ws/2VdrdQf
Cycling News: https://bit.ly/2H9p5p4
KQED Radio: https://soundcloud.com/sabrinarose/kqed-amgen-tour-of-ca-sport-equity
Caltrans HQs Public Affairs
May 23, 2019
KCBS Radio
May 15, 2019
KCBS - Keith Menconi
Advocate Raises Concerns over Gender Equity in Cycling
This year’s Amgen Tour of California known as the nation’s biggest cycling road race is now under way, but KCBS Radio reporter Keith Menconi spoke with one advocate for gender equity in sports who says it shouldn’t come back next year unless it makes a big change.
Mercury News
MAY 9, 2019
Mercury News - Elliot Almond
The Amgen Tour: fighting for equality for women cyclists Bay Area woman who led fight for equality in surfing challenges Amgen Tour of California cycling race
In recent letters to Caltrans officials, Brennan made a pitch for the agency to withhold permits if men and women are not treated equally. She cited the Unruh Act, which outlaws discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, sexual orientation, citizenship and other categories for all California businesses. Brennan and women surfers made similar arguments last year, when urging the State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission to reject permit applications by the World Surf League to hold the Mavericks big-wave contest near Half Moon Bay.
World Surf League officials announced a few months later that they would pay competitors equally in all their events — a move they maintained had been planned all along.
Brennan, who lives in Moss Beach, said in an interview that in response to her letters, she had been told by a Caltrans representative that the agency did not control the events it allows to use the roadways. Her reply, she said, was to ask if the agency would “permit a race with seven days for white men and three days for black men.”
Brennan said people often don’t recognize gender-based discrimination because it is socially ingrained.
Cycling News
May 7, 2019
Cycling News - Kirsten Frattini
Push to change roadway permits could force equality at Tour of California
letter to the Director of Caltrans
May 6, 2019
KQED Radio
May 1, 2019
KQED News - Peter Jon Shuler
Interview on KQED Radio regarding Sport Equity’s complaint against Caltrans regarding gender-based discrimination on California State roadways.
KQED News Segment
CalMatters
Sept 6, 2018
by Laurel Rosenhall
California just forced equal pay for female surfers. Could that change other games?
“We believe there ought to be gender equity with respect to the purposes of any use of our state lands,” Betty Yee said in an interview.
Gavin Newsom also supported the requirement, said his chief of staff Rhys Williams: “A lease application that doesn’t reflect equal pay isn’t going to fly with him.”
The Mavericks case could set a precedent for local governments to demand equal pay in any sporting event held on public property, said David Berri, a professor of economics at Southern Utah University who researches gender in sports.
“In any event where you are going across public land, then any government entity could say ‘You have to make this equal,’” he said.
CAL Matters, KQED, Mercury News, Capital Public Radio News, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Mendocino Beacon, Ukiah Daily Journal
Sport Equity was Founded by Sabrina Brennan in April 2019