Senators unveil bipartisan draft NIL bill for college sports
Zachary Halaschak
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A trio of senators has released a discussion draft of a bill that would federally standardize name, image, and likeness policies for college athletes.
The NCAA ended its prohibition on college athletes receiving NIL compensation in 2021, and the few years since have seen an explosion in endorsement deals and a rise in athletes going to schools where they can earn the most. That, in turn, has led to calls for Congress to set a national standard to govern the practice. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jerry Moran (R-KY), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced the draft legislation on Thursday and are seeking input from all stakeholders.
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The key tenet of the legislation — which has not yet been introduced and is something that will likely be tweaked as more feedback is received — is the formation of the “College Athletics Corporation,” a central oversight entity that would administer and enforce rules in order to safeguard athletes who sign onto endorsement contracts.
As part of the plan, the college athletes who enter into these contracts would be allowed to have representatives who could help them out with contracts, finances, marketing, and brand management, according to the text of the legislation.
In a Thursday call with reporters, Moran said that the goal of the bill is “to stabilize college athletics and to ensure that our college athletes are fairly treated.”
He added that a big push among the three was to make sure that the NIL legislation is something that will be broadly acceptable to both Republicans and Democrats and ultimately make it to President Joe Biden’s desk.
“I think we’ve forged a consensus that will withstand all the scrutiny that we invite,” Blumenthal said during the call, adding that is the reason why it is being released as a discussion draft instead of being introduced into the Senate. He said comments from all parties are welcome.
In an effort to increase transparency, the College Athletics Corporation would also keep a public database containing all the endorsement contracts for student-athletes. Those looking to represent athletes in NIL deals would also have to undergo a certification process.
Additionally, the draft bill would establish a medical trust fund and would cover the out-of-pocket costs of injured athletes, including long-term conditions resulting from their participation in sports. That includes chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which has become a major point of concern among football players in particular.
It would also seek to prioritize education for the athletes by retaining their aid covering tuition, books, and other fees until they graduate. If an athlete suffered a career-ending injury or was simply cut from the team, that individual would still continue receiving the financial aid under the strictures of the legislation.
The bill also would require student-athletes to take financial literacy and lifestyle development courses where they would also be taught about all issues related to their income and NIL endorsements.
Helen “Nellie” Drew, professor of practice in sports law, told the Washington Examiner that, while there have been other bills seeking to rein in NIL standards, this is the one that seems to have gotten the biggest push so far.
The issue is that currently, there is no national standard for NIL issues and so individual states govern the process with a hodgepodge of laws that differ in some ways and are similar in others — making the current system confusing and unwieldy.
“It has become clear to me that 50+ different rules of the road, rules of the game is untenable, unworkable for universities and athletic departments and even players across the country,” Moran said.
And while Booker, Moran, and Blumenthal crafted the discussion draft to be as inclusive as possible in order to garner support for passage, there will likely be opponents of the legislation depending on what provisions are included, Drew said.
Because it will govern such a large population with so many stakeholders of diverse needs, there are bound to be some questions, particularly ones for universities with few resources or smaller budgets.
“Like, it sounds great everyone should have to take a course in … financial planning, OK; how and when? You know what a student athlete’s schedule looks like — what does that replace? Who is going to teach it? Where do the resources come for that? What is the content going to be? That’s just a start,” she said.
But the biggest question with any piece of NIL legislation is the status of the employment question, according to Drew, who noted that this bill does not take a position on whether college athletes are considered employees.
The question is a huge one for the NCAA. Drew said that the NCAA developed the phrase “student-athlete” intentionally to avoid workers’ compensation claims — something that is at the heart of the NCAA’s opposition to athletes being classified as employees.
“And other things as well; could you imagine paying overtime?” Drew said, noting that some athletes spend far more than 40 hours per week on their given sport. “That’s a lot of money.”
The three senators are hoping that the draft will spur discussion and that the final bill regulating NIL that emerges will garner enough support to become law.
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In response to a question from the Washington Examiner, Moran said that he and the other two senators sought input from the different athletic conferences like the SEC, which have a big amount of sway in the world of collegiate athletics. Additionally, athletic directors, players, and player groups were consulted in crafting the discussion draft.
“This bipartisan proposal represents a major step forward, and I’m grateful for the partnership with Senators Blumenthal and Moran,” Booker said. “It would make college athletics fairer, safer, and more just, and empower more young people to succeed in sports and beyond.”