Both the House and Senate Consider Issues Related to College Athletics While The Higher Education Community Works On Final Comments on the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization NPRM
Overview
A key piece of legislation in the Senate and a hearing in the House each focus on two issues related to college athletes and athletics.
In the Senate, yesterday, S. 4668 – The Protect College Sports Act was brought to the Senate floor for consideration and a cloture vote (allowing the legislation and proposed amendments to be deliberated) passed 74-24 just after 5 PM. With this procedural hurdle now achieved, the Senate can bring up debate on the legislation at any time – and is likely to do so at some point today. Meanwhile, as previously reported by CSPEN, later this morning the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, chaired by Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT), will hold a hearing on collegiate scholarships entitled “Who Gets the Scholarship? How the Global Shift in College Sports Affects America.” Below we provide a brief summary of S. 468 and the fifteen potential amendments that the Senate may deliberate today and an overview of the House Subcommittee hearing.
S. 4668 – The Protect College Sports Act
In summary, the primary focus of S. 4668 seeks to establish requirements for name, image, or likeness (NIL) agreements for college student athletes and provides a limited antitrust exemption for schools and conferences to pool and sell certain college sports media rights. The requirements address elements of the court-approved agreement to settle In re College Athlete NIL Litigation (i.e., House settlement).
More specifically, the bill:
* Statutorily prohibits institutions, conferences, or interstate intercollegiate athletic associations (e.g., the National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA]) from restricting student athletes from entering NIL agreements (subject to specified limitations). Students must report to their institution NIL compensation greater than $600;
* Requires agents to register with a state and caps agent endorsement contract fees at 5%;
* Enables student athletes with the ability to make one transfer without losing athletic eligibility and restricts football personnel from becoming the head football coach at a different institution during the same season;
* Prohibits institutions, conferences, or specified entities acting for the benefit of an institution from providing athletes with compensation that circumvents the limit on sharing revenue with student athletes established under the House settlement. The bill also makes the limit permanent and provides for an annual inflation adjustment; and
* Establishes (subject to specified conditions) a limited antitrust exemption for institutions or conferences that form joint agreements to transfer their sports telecasting rights to a third party. Such an agreement requires participation from at least 75% of the institutions in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Heading into the floor debate, fifteen amendments have been filed and may be introduced. CSPEN will continue to monitor the Senate floor actions on the bill and provide an update in a future email.
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development Hearing
Beginning at 10:15 AM this morning, the Committee on Education and Workforce higher education subcommittee will convene a panel of witnesses to discuss collegiate scholarships and the significant increase in the percentage of scholarships being awarded to international student=athletes (ISA) among other topics.
The hearing takes place one day after House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Senator Jon Husted (R-OH) introduced H.R. 10351, Training and Education for American Members in University Sports and Athletics (TEAM USA) Act, legislation to protect opportunities for American student-athletes by limiting international student-athlete (ISA) participation to no more than 20 percent of each varsity sports team.
The hearing can be viewed on the Committee’s YouTube channel (us.list-manage.com/YqgLlmy3oKH?e=05bce952ad&c2id=828e2f13ae2569477ba2b7da4ef30812) and will include testimony from four witnesses noted below followed by Subcommittee member Q&A.
Witnesses:
* Mr. Patrick McEnroe, Broadcaster, ESPN
* Mr. Tommy Brown, Owner and CEO, One Heartbeat Inc.
* Mr. Aaron S. Ament, M.A., J.D., President, National Student Legal Defense Network
* Mr. Douglas DePeppe, J.D., LL.M., Lieutenant Colonel (Retired), US Army, Special Counsel, Buchalter LLP
