Girls’ Soccer Teams Booted From $4M Taxpayer-Funded Field

Female athletes are once again paying the price for decisions made by bureaucrats — this time in New York City — thanks to a $4 million taxpayer-funded field renovation that ended with girls’ soccer teams getting kicked to the curb.

The New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) handed control of a newly-renovated Brooklyn athletic field to Eagle Academy for Young Men II — a small, all-boys public school founded by now-Schools Chancellor David Banks, the New York Post reported. The decision promptly ousted three nearby girls’ soccer teams, sparking a Title IX complaint and federal investigation. (RELATED: Ex-Teammates Of Lia Thomas Speak Out Against Alma Mater UPenn Amid Title IX Violation Announcement)

“Unfair.” The NYC DOE spent $4M to revamp a Brooklyn football field and gave it to a small all-boys school in the Eagle Academy network founded by then-Chancellor David Banks. The Eagles then kicked out girls’ soccer teams from 3 nearby high schools.https://t.co/r3FufAChev

— Susan Edelman (@SusanBEdelman) June 8, 2025

The field, previously used by the girls’ varsity soccer teams of Medgar Evers College Prep, Wingate, and Prospect Heights High School, was suddenly handed over to Eagle Academy — despite the fact that it’s two miles away and has fewer athletic teams than the displaced schools.

“Once the facility was transferred to them, they basically said, ‘It’s ours,’” said Medgar Evers Coach Ruslan Yakovlyuk. His team, made up of girls from low-income neighborhoods, was forced to travel across Brooklyn for games, miss classes and return home late from practice.

Wingate Coach Shani Nakhid-Schuster echoed the frustration: “All I know is that the girls were really put at a disadvantage. It was a huge disservice to women’s sports.”

A DOE spokesperson said the field was given to the “closest school with the most athletic teams” — but records show Eagle Academy has only four athletic teams and is farthest from the field. Nearby co-ed schools have a combined 32 teams.

The U.S. Department of Education said a Title IX investigation is underway, with complaints that the field’s reassignment constitutes sex-based discrimination.