Congress to vote on college sports bill that limits NIL, transfers
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Monday, Dec. 1 on a bipartisan bill to allow the NCAA, and potentially the newly formed College Sports Commission, to create and enforce national rules that have come under legal dispute in recent years.
The SCORE Act (Student Compensation And Opportunity Through Rights and Endorsements) intends to provide more regulation and calm the chaotic environment created by the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation, revenue sharing and the transfer portal to college sports. The proposed bill, which was introduced in July with backing from leaders of three House committees, would permit the NCAA to set a cap on how much schools can spend on NIL deals and parameters for the manner in which athletes transfer, so long as they can transfer at least once and be immediately eligible.
Other aspects of the proposed bill would put into law the fair-market-value assessment of athletes’ NIL deals with entities other than schools provided under the House vs. NCAA settlement and allow universities to prevent athletes from having NIL deals that conflict with school sponsorship deals. The bill also notably shields the NCAA, the Commission, conferences and schools from antitrust and state-court lawsuits that could come from rules.
The NCAA has lobbied for Congressional antitrust provisions throughout the past decade as its regulations over athlete compensation and transfer eligibility were challenged and eventually changed by state legislatures and lawsuits.
‘It is long past time that we take action to ensure that we have sustainable future for college sports, especially for women’s sports and the Olympic sports,’ said Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee, when he led a markup of the SCORE Act in July. ‘That creates predictability and certainty for all student-athletes. We must act now to protect and preserve the uniquely American institution of college sports we have all come to know and love.”
The bill would still need to work its way through the Senate if it passes in the House, but could lead to bipartisan discussions even if it is voted down by the Senate.
U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the Student Athlete Fairness and Enforcement (SAFE) Act in September, aiming ‘to codify athletes’ rights and protections in law, expand revenue for all schools, support women’s and Olympic sports and bring much-needed stability to the college sports system.’
The key provisions in the bill provide federal NIL protections, pooling of media rights, new broadcast revenue for Olympic and women’s sports, local market broadcast access for football and basketball, protections from bad actor agents, national standards for the transfer portal and preserves the House vs. NCAA settlement’s revenue share cap.
Monday’s House vote will occur hours after Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), a former Division-I volleyball player, also announced plans to introduce a competing bill modeled after the Senate proposal with federal standards for NIL rights and the pooling of media rights, in addition to the creation of a bipartisan Commission to Stabilize College Sports with a two-year timeline to develop recommendations for an enduring governance model.
‘Despite years of intense lobbying from the most powerful institutions in college athletics, Congress is increasingly divided on how to address the challenges threatening the industry,’ Trahan said in a news release. ‘Too many proposals pushed by entrenched power brokers focus on regaining control at the expense of the athletes who drive college sports, rather than on creating a sustainable system, particularly for women’s and Olympic sports and smaller schools.’