DENVER — The U.S. Center for SafeSport said it reduced the time it took to complete cases it fully investigated by 9% over the past two years, a sign of progress at an agency that has been criticized for taking too long to resolve many of the thousands of complaints it has received since opening nearly 10 years ago.
That was among the key revelations in the center's annual report released Tuesday and focusing on progress made at the organization charged with combating sex abuse in Olympic sports across America.
The trend was measured from the time the center implemented a host of new policies designed in part to streamline its response and resolution process in 2024. Many of those changes came in the wake of complaints and news reports detailing cases that could take several years to resolve.
The decrease in time to resolve “fully adjudicated” cases came despite a 23% increase in the number of those cases. The center said when including cases that get declined, put on hold or sent to national governing bodies (NGBs), the decrease in time to complete cases jumped to 25%.
This is the first big update from the center since Benita Fitzgerald Mosley took over as CEO at the start of the year, hoping to put the center back on path after a series of struggles led it to parting ways with her predecessor, Ju'Riese Colon, last year.
“This is a real good chance to talk about the state of SafeSport, where we've been, where we are today and where we're doing,” Fitzgerald Mosley said.
The center said it reduced the number of cases open longer than two years by 75% — to 26 cases at the end of last year. This year, the number has dwindled to eight.
The center also said it is taking far fewer “discretionary” cases — cases that aren't directly related to sex abuse and can often be referred to the national governing body (NGB) that oversees the sport involved in the case (for example, USA Gymnastics or USA Swimming).
The center also unveiled a three-year strategic plan with the goals of improving people's understanding of the system, building trust with athletes and NGBs and building a “people-first culture and sustainable operating model that strengthens our capacity to deliver on our mission."
Fitzgerald Mosley said the center received 9,700 reports in 2025, a 20% increase from the previous year, and is not increasing revenue at the same rate. Congress mandates the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee pay $20 million to the center each year by raising most of it through NGBs and that remains the bulk of the agency's revenue.
Fitzgerald Mosley hired a top fundraiser, Mary-Clare Brennan, who has set up a seven-step plan to increase revenue.
“The spending value has gone down while the number of reports have gone up by 160 percent" since the $20 million in funding started in 2021, Fitzgerald Mosley said in a nod to inflation numbers that recently rose above 4%. “We're at a crossroads to a large degree because there's a greater and greater demand for SafeSport."
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