Congress ’most recent proposal to reshape college sports aims to go far beyond codifying a college athlete’s ability to make money backed.
The Declaration of the Rights of University Athletes, proposed on Thursday by co-authors Sen. Cory Booker, DN.J., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Would create drastic changes to college sports, including provisions that would require some schools to share revenue with some of their athletes, guarantee scholarships for all life to athletes with good academic condition, establish safety and health rules applied by heavy fines for offenders, and create a fund to cover some out-of-pocket medical expenses for current and former athletes.
The rules and requirements set out in the bill would be applied by a newly formed University Athletics Commission, which would be chaired by nine board members appointed by the President of the United States. They would hire staff to resolve disputes, suggest changes to the rules, and investigate offenses with the power to call witnesses. This group, which would receive $ 50 million in taxpayer funding during its first two years, would take on a large part of the task of monitoring college sports.
“This is one of the few industries in America that has permission to exploit those who are responsible for generating most of the revenue,” Booker told ESPN. “I think the federal government has a role and a responsibility that we have been shunning in terms of protecting athletes and ensuring their safety. I just think there is an urgency that has not been met for decades and decades. We need to step up and do something about it. “
Booker’s bill is one of dozens of proposals from members of Congress to regulate the changing business model of college sports. NCAA President Mark Emmert and others have called on federal lawmakers to help them create a national law that governs the future market for college athletes who sell their rights to name, image, and likeness. The NCAA governing board plans to vote next month to change its rules to allow athletes to collect NIL payments. Emmert said at a conference last week that his vote “somehow” depends “on receiving help from Congress.
Other bills specifically focus on addressing what types of membership offers should be allowed for college athletes to sign and what types of restrictions should allow them to enforce colleges and the NCAA. The bill proposed Thursday represents a broader review of college sports. Booker said greater scope was needed because the NCAA has not done a good enough job protecting its athletes on multiple fronts. Blumenthal said a bill that creates new rules without a strong enforcement element is an “effectively dead letter.”
Both senators met with several college sports leaders when they built the bill. Booker said they intentionally held most of their conversations with current and former athletes because he wanted to draft legislation focused solely on improving or protecting the rights of athletes. Blumenthal said they felt some calm support from university presidents who see college sports in need of major reform.
The first stop of the bill in the legislative process will be for debate in the Judicial Committee. Booker said he believes Congress may pass a law to reform college sports during the first half of 2021. So far, the project’s sponsors are all Democrats. Blumenthal said that depending on which party the Senate controls, it could improve its chances of moving forward quickly with its “ambitious and comprehensive” bill. Regardless, he said, “this is simply an idea that the time has come.”
Booker said he has had encouraging conversations with politicians on both sides of the aisle on some of the issues addressed in the bill.
“I am cautiously optimistic that, using this framework, we can generate support for real substantial changes in the way the NCAA operates,” Booker said.
This framework is explained in more detail in a 56-page proposal that describes how the changes would be implemented or regulated. Some of the highlights are:
Name, image and likeness
• University athletes would be allowed to sign membership agreements with a wide variety of companies. They should report any offer to their athletic department within 21 days. This information would be stored in a private database.
• Athletes may sign agreements with clothing brands that compete with their school’s clothing brand, but schools may require them to wear school-sponsored material during any mandatory team event. The only exception is footwear. Athletes would be allowed to wear shoes from their individual sponsor during team testing.
• State governments can create laws that prohibit athletes from approving companies in certain industries (gambling, illicit substances, etc.) as long as universities are also prohibited from approving the same industry. Unlike other proposals, individual schools could not place any restrictions on the type of business an athlete could approve.
Revenue distribution
• Athletes in sports that generate more revenue than the total amount of money spent on scholarships in that sport would be entitled to share 50% of the money left over after paying the scholarships. For example, in FBS level football, the commission would add up the revenue generated by the 130 football programs and subtract the total costs of the scholarships in all those programs. Half of the remaining money will be distributed evenly among all FBS level players. The sports that currently generate enough money to qualify for this revenue share, according to Booker’s office, are football (FBS and FCS levels), men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball.
Agents
• Athletes would be allowed to hire agents or join groups to help them obtain group license fees. Schools, conferences, and organizations like the NCAA could not dictate which agents could hire an athlete. The proposed committee would create and oversee a process for certifying agents.
Medical care
• Schools should contribute annually to a medical trust fund to cover the cost of health care for an athlete’s sports-related injuries. Athletes would be eligible for funding during their college career and for five years after it ends.
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would create standards of care related to health, well-being, and safety. These standards would address concussion protocols, sexual assaults, long-term injuries, and more. All schools that violate the rules would be subject to fines of up to 30% of their annual athletic income, which equates to tens of millions of dollars for Power 5 schools.
Education
• Schools should continue to pay for an athlete’s scholarship until they complete the degree, as long as the athlete maintains a GPA of 2.2 or higher.
• Schools would not be allowed to discourage athletes from taking certain classes or participating in other extracurricular activities. Those who violate this rule could face fines of up to 20% of their annual athletic income.
Transfers and drafts
• Athletes would be allowed to move to schools without incurring any penalties. Athletes could not transfer during the season of their sport or in the 45 days prior to the start of the season.
• Athletes could also participate in a draft for a professional sports league without losing their eligibility. If the athlete decides not to become a professional after entering the draft, he or she should let his or her athletic director know that he or she will return to college within seven days of the end of the draft.
Commission
• The committee would consist of nine members with diverse experience and expertise. Members would serve five-year terms. At least five of them should be former athletes at some point. No administrator of the university or athletic department would be allowed to participate on the board.
• The committee would collect and publicly share an annual report from all of the university’s sports departments, both public and private schools, describing its finances. The reports would include their annual income and expenses, including coach salaries and reinforcement donations.