SEC star wants a ‘voice in the room’ for women’s basketball players as House v. NCAA settlement nears

With the House settlement looming, Oklahoma’s Raegan Beers explains why she helped form an advocacy group for women’s basketball players, and why they want to meet with Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — College athletics have changed a lot over the past few years and the landscape is likely to shift even more very soon as the House v. NCAA settlement will pave the way for schools to be able to share revenue directly with athletes.

And women’s basketball players want a seat at the table.

According to a recent Washington Post story, more than 100 Division I women’s college basketball players have been quietly forming a players association group of sorts over the past several months. They’ve joined the United College Athletes Association, a nonprofit group advocating for college athletes, and they want to be heard by the decision makers who are going to shape what the next era of college sports looks like. Specifically, they asked for meetings with the commissioners of the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference — the richest leagues in college sports — both of whom declined to sit down with the players.

Securing that meeting and continuing to advocate on behalf of her fellow women’s college basketball players was still on the mind of Oklahoma’s Raegan Beers after she helped her Sooners defeat Kentucky in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament last Friday. Beers, a 6-foot-4 junior center for Oklahoma, had 20 points and 11 rebounds in the 69-65 victory for the Sooners.

In addition to being one of the best centers in the sport, Beers is also the SEC president of this players advocacy group.

“We just really desire to have a voice,” Beers told SB Nation. “There are decisions that are being made without us in the room that are about us. And so, we just want to have a fair chance to talk about those decisions that are being made on our behalf.”

SB Nation caught up with Beers after her team’s win over Kentucky for an exclusive conversation about her role in the group, what she hopes to accomplish, how she got involved and what the future looks like for women’s college basketball as the House settlement looms.

This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

Just to start off, have there been any big developments within your group since the Washington Post story was published?

Beers: “That was a big step for us to go public. There has been a lot of behind the scenes work with that player group that’s been starting — meeting on Zoom with people from across the SEC and across the Big Ten. So it’s been a process this whole year, starting last year. It was a big step for us to go public with that knowledge. It was a big step that was needed because we do require voice in women’s basketball. I think it was cool that so many athletes got to come together and be a part of that and have a voice.”

This sounds like a Big Ten and SEC-driven thing, but have you talked to any players in the ACC or Big 12 about getting involved?

Beers: “Not yet. We’re wanting to expand, obviously. We don’t want to just limit it to the Big Ten and SEC. We started it with the Big Ten and the SEC, because we had a lot of girls that were adamant about that and really passionate about it in those conferences. So, it’s easier to kind of grow it in one conference and then jump to another conference, obviously, and so we started in those conferences. But we want to grow as much as we can. This isn’t just about women’s basketball in the SEC and it’s not just for women’s basketball in the Big Ten. It’s for women’s basketball across the country. So we definitely want to grow, for sure.”

Author’s note: According a league source, women’s basketball players in the ACC have not yet requested a meeting with commissioner Jim Phillips.

Did you have more players reach out to y’all after the Washington Post story?

Beers: “I had a couple that reached out to me that were just really interested in what it was about. They were like, ‘What is this?’ And fortunately, you see my name on there, you see a name like Charlisse Leger-Walker from UCLA or (Dominique Darius) from USC — it kind of makes your ears perk a little bit. They’re like, ‘What is this, exactly?’ So, I know I got reached out to, I know they got reached out to. They’re all people just wondering what it was, wanting more information. That was one of the important aspects of that article, was to get more information, get that knowledge out there about how we just want a voice, and to strive for that. And so that was really important to us.”

Are you still hopeful that the commissioners will sit down with y’all?

Beers: “That’s the plan. We’re trying to get after that. Commissioners obviously run a lot, and so we would really love to sit down and talk to them about it, and what that would look like for us to have a voice in the room and make decisions on our behalf, and not just them making decisions without us in the room. And so, that’s going to be important for us, and we’re hopeful that they’ll come to terms.”

How did you get involved with this?

Beers: “Mikayla Pivec. This is back when I was still at Oregon State but I was in the transfer portal and I was figuring out where I wanted to go. She was in town in Corvallis and reached out to me like, ‘Hey, do you want to grab lunch?’ I was like, ‘Of course.’ Mikayla Pivec, first of all, is a legend at Oregon State. So, we went out and she’s like, ‘What do you know about the money that’s coming into the conferences?’ I didn’t know any of it. She was giving me a bunch of stats… And so, she really got me into it and then got me on Zooms with other players, hearing their stories about how they were forced to play through things. Hearing other stories from other players in other conferences was really, really important. So, Mikayla really drove that for me and then helped me connect with a lot of players across the Big Ten and SEC.”

Are the top questions and concerns for y’all revolving around the House settlement?

Beers: “Right now that’s the biggest thing, obviously, because that’s what’s coming up fast is that House settlement — getting a revenue sharing that’s specific for women’s basketball. That’s really going to be important. So, that’s definitely at the top. Other things like mental health is a big one for student athletes. We want to continue to improve that specifically in women’s basketball. Of course, you have things like staff that do a great job, but we want something specifically women’s basketball, where we can come and be like, ‘These are the issues we’re having in women’s basketball, and this is how we want to address them, and can you help us with that?’ And so that’s another thing. The House settlement and revenue sharing, for sure, is on the forefront of our minds.”