The Senate steps in to regulate college sports
The Senate is preparing to debate a bipartisan bill that could dramatically change the landscape of intercollegiate sports. Lawmakers aim to create national standards for Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) fees and curb system chaos in transfers. Senators Cruz, Cantwell, Baldwin, and Booker discuss the need for federal intervention due to the perceived failure of the NCAA.
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Congress can decide the future of college sports.
Thursday was a crucial day for whether Congress can save — or destroy — intercollegiate athletics. Congressional Hail Mary as the name of the senators’ address, picture and likeness (NIL) banquet for athletes, compensation packages and transfers between schools.
“College sports are in trouble,” announced Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
“There’s a sense of urgency in that room that you can’t feel, right? You have to do something quickly,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.
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Senate lawmakers advanced a bipartisan college sports bill that would create national NIL standards and limit transfer athletes. The measure is now referred to full Senate debate. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
The Commerce Committee approved a bipartisan gameplan to reform college sports. The full Senate plans to debate the bill in July.
“We put something on the table that will bring more certainty and predictability to the system,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is the top Democrat on the panel.
Establishing a national payment framework is an important aspect of the deal. Lawmakers know that inaction can mean big funding programs will simply overwhelm smaller schools. Maybe even a future NFL MVP.
“I am concerned that we will never see Josh Allen at the University of Wyoming again,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., referring to the Buffalo Bills quarterback. “It leaves us who don’t really have a background to donate [to struggle to] to pay such players.”
The bill also limits athletes to one transfer between schools within a five-year period without penalty.
“Now we have this incredible number of players coming through the (transfer) portal every year and there’s nothing we can do to control the agents,” former Alabama football coach Nick Saban told a Senate hearing earlier this month.
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Law enforcement officials believe that this plan will stop the ongoing chaos.
Advocates of the law believe it protects student-athletes.
“It ensures that criminal contracts made by agents or universities or conferences or shill organizations, do not hold students back from resolving disputes,” said Cantwell.
Sen. Cory Booker, DN.J., is the only former Division I college athlete in the Senate. He played for the Stanford football team. Booker opposes the bill.
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Congress is weighing major changes to college athletics, including athlete compensation, transfers and NIL rules amid growing concerns about competitive inequality. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
“I’ve seen decade after decade, how the NCAA has abused athletes. And so we need to make sure that there is a strong protection for sports and we don’t trust the NCAA to do it,” said Booker.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is the only former Division I football coach in the Senate. He led programs at Auburn, Ole Miss, Texas Tech and Cincinnati. He joins Booker in criticizing the law.
“They’re trying to turn college sports into the same situation we got in Obamacare,” Tuberville said on Fox News Radio. “We can’t get the federal government involved in college sports.”
During the floor speech, Tuberville argued that “Congress shouldn’t decide how much money athletes can get.”
However, Tuberville admitted that “college sports are facing a five-alarm fire. We are getting ready to end as we know it.”
That’s why Cruz believes Congress should step in.
“If you’re not doing anything and you’re allowing chaos to continue in college sports, I think that’s unacceptable,” Cruz said.
Congress struggles to get many things right. That’s why some observers doubt that Congress has a good handle on the NCAA.
Matt Mackowiak is a former GOP Senate aide who has written about Brendan Sorsby, his gambling scandal and the saga involving Texas Tech megabooster Cody Campbell. The big money lured Sorsby to school for a hot minute. Mackowiak says the Cruz/Cantwell bill fails to prevent another Sorsby situation. But Mackowiak’s biggest concern is Congress’ willingness to defund the NCAA.
“I don’t know why you need to create a new system and make it so complicated. You have a governing body. They haven’t had a lot of teeth in their implementation in recent years.”
Part of that is because major conferences like the Big Ten and SEC have more power than the NCAA. Notably none of those conferences approved the Senate bill. But it was the NCAA that sought Congressional intervention. The NCAA told lawmakers it could not deal with the NIL alone and enforced a national standard set by Capitol Hill.
But Booker is not loved by the NCAA.
“The NCAA, which cannot be trusted, has shown a decade of (failure) for college athletes,” he said.
There are concerns that the bill could reduce current sports broadcasters by dividing the number of broadcasters and outlets that carry sports. That can be hard to watch. More options aren’t good for fans if they’re struggling to find their games.
“Then the fans are hurt because all the content is behind the paywall,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
“I suspect that everyone in this room has heard about the frustration of those who were part of them trying to watch their favorite sports teams play. They were experiencing blackouts and paywalls,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
The House of Representatives has stumbled on two previous attempts to regulate college sports. The House Republican leadership had to issue completely different college sports regulation bills in December and this spring because they didn’t have the votes. So, now it’s the Senate’s turn to try.
There are many questions about whether the Senate, like the House, can order votes on this bill. Furthermore, what bandwidth does the Senate even have to pass serious legislation in July? The Senate is trying to figure out what’s next about Jay Clayton’s nomination to serve as Director of National Intelligence. The future of FISA Section 702 — the nation’s top counterterrorism program — is up in the air after its authorization expired a few weeks ago. And some Republicans hope the Senate can advance a third “reconciliation package” to pay for the Iran war, cut taxes and reduce fraud.
It looks like those priorities can override something in college sports.
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A Senate panel approved by supporters of the legislation says it will bring stability to college sports as critics warn it increases organizational involvement. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
But as Cruz and Tuberville both said, the state of college sports is dire. There is concern that the SEC and/or the Big Ten may form a larger conference. Or develop their own game streaming platforms. And there may be more of Brendan Sorsbys as the games become more ubiquitous.
None of this will get better.
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The future of college sports is on the line.
So, to fix it, the Senate might just try the old college.
