Discussion Draft of bipartisan Congressional NIL legislation floated

[Carm]

Draft of new bipartisan NIL bill calls for central oversight entity to enforce rules​

By Nicole Auerbach
2h ago
28

---

U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Thursday circulated a discussion draft of federal legislation they say would protect college athletes’ economic, health and educational rights. The bill is called the College Athletes Protection & Compensation Act, and it would preempt state NIL laws.


The bill proposes the formation of the College Athletics Corporation (CAC), a central oversight entity that would set, administer, and enforce rules and standards to protect athletes who enter into endorsement contracts. The CAC would establish rules and investigatory processes to enforce this law. There would be a 15-member board of directors that oversees the CAC, and at least five board members must be current or former college athletes. The CAC would have its own constitution and bylaws. It would also have subpoena power and could use it to compel deposition testimony on behalf of the NCAA if it has “appropriate requests.”
The discussion draft includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Athletes would be allowed to have representatives, such as agents, and those representatives would need to be certified by the CAC. Schools would not be able to represent athletes in endorsement contract negotiations.
• Schools would be prohibited from punishing athletes for receiving food, rent, medical expenses, insurance, tuition, fees, books and transportation from a third party. Schools would also be required to cover athletes’ aid until they graduate, even if they suffer a career-ending injury.
• Athletes making more than $1,000 per year would need to disclose their endorsement contracts to a designated employee of their university, and recruits would need to provide copies of their current and expired name, image and likeness deals to that same person before signing a national letter of intent. These disclosures would not be made public and would not be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.
• An athlete who no longer participates in their sport while operating under an NIL contract of more than a year can rescind it without being held liable for breach of contract.
• Any athlete can declare for a draft and come back to school after going undrafted with notice within seven days of the draft taking place, as long as he or she does not accept compensation from a league, team or agent.
• Athletes would be able to transfer one time and play right away at their second school, which is an NCAA rule but not law. Transfers would not be able to transfer during the season or in the 60 days leading up to the season.
• A medical trust fund would be established that would cover the out-of-pocket expenses for injuries and other long-term conditions resulting from athletes’ participation in college sports.
• State attorneys general could bring civil action if they believe a citizen has been harmed by a violation of the Act.
• The law would pre-empt state NIL laws and prohibit them from establishing laws related to NIL rights and anything that would prohibit an athlete’s ability to transfer.

The bill establishes health and safety standards for conditions such as traumatic brain injuries and heat-related illnesses along with areas such as sexual assault and interpersonal violence. It would require that athletic trainers, physical therapists and physicians have autonomous authority to determine medical management and return-to-play decisions for athletes under their care. The CAC would be able to audit, visit and investigate schools — and it could issue a lifetime ban for anyone violating health and safety standards.
Schools would be required to report revenues and expenditures of each athletics program, the average number of hours college athletes spent on college athletic events and academic outcomes and majors for college athletes. Athletes would be required to take financial literacy and lifestyle development courses.

Background​

Booker, Blumenthal and Moran have all been active in NIL legislation for years. Booker and Blumenthal had previously proposed (and amended) their College Athletes Bill of Rights, which would have given athletes the ability to unionize and share revenue with their leagues and schools, along with other healthcare-related protections. In 2021, Moran proposed a bill that addressed athletes’ NIL rights but also provided the NCAA the legal protection it seeks against antitrust lawsuits that challenge its athlete compensation rules. Moran’s bill also addressed transfer rules and the ability of athletes to return to college after going undrafted in a professional sports draft.

Last month The Athletic reported industry sources’ expectation that the Booker and Blumenthal bill would not garner widespread Republican support but could be used as an opening negotiating stance toward bipartisan resolution. Speaking to USA Today in 2021, Moran said he was open to something similar.
“No piece of legislation at this point that’s going to pass remains identical to what it is today,” he told the newspaper. “But I think that the changes that could be made to my bill are ones that are modest, are reasonable, are in the vein of what this legislation is, which is something that is designed to be sufficiently appealing to a broad enough group of legislators that it gets passed.”
No NIL bill has made it out of committee yet.

What they’re saying​

“This bipartisan framework is a milestone step forward for college athletes — protecting sports heroes whose blood, sweat and sacrifice drive a multibillion-dollar industry,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “They need a level playing field with guarantees of economic opportunities, educational outcomes and essential health care. For far too long the NCAA and powerful special interests have held sway, putting athletes second to dollars. Athletes deserve national NIL standards, a Medical Trust Fund, scholarship safeguards, protection against mistreatment and abuse, and more. America’s athletes — all 500,000 — deserve these basic rights. I thank my colleagues Senators Booker and Moran for all the hard work necessary to reach this milestone.”
Moran added that “it is no secret that college athletics have grown into an increasingly profitable, billion-dollar industry, however the rules surrounding athlete compensation have not been modernized. Together, Sens. Booker, Blumenthal and I are releasing this discussion draft to empower student athletes while maintaining the integrity of college sports that we all know and love.”

Booker added that his experience as a college athlete “was one of the greatest gifts of my life” but that it “also opened my eyes to some deep, systemic injustices in the system — a system that, to this day, continues to put profits over athletes. This bipartisan proposal represents a major step forward.”

What comes next​

Since July 1, 2021, the NCAA has deferred to the NIL policies set by individual states. Some of the ensuing laws adopted, including those in Arkansas and Missouri, have taken an aggressive approach to the NIL market, allowing for more direct involvement by school officials in the negotiation of athletes’ NIL deals and going so far as to explicitly say that their state laws supersede any conflicting NCAA rules. In response, many athletics administrators have trekked to Washington, D.C., in recent months, seeking a national standard for sports that compete in national championships. (The NCAA has said that schools are voluntary members of its organization and therefore must follow its rules, even if their states are more permissive.)
The NCAA hired former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker as its new president earlier this year because it believes he can engage and motivate Congress to act to protect the NCAA’s ability to make rules, particularly around NIL activity. One of the areas Baker has been particularly vocal about is deal disclosure, which is included in this new bill. The bill also does not label college athletes as employees — something else Baker and the NCAA as vehemently opposed to.
Still, no one knows exactly how urgent this type of legislation is to the rest of the Senate or the House of Representatives, especially with an election year ahead in 2024.
“The volume (of interest) has increased — I just don’t know that it’s a must-do,” Tom McMillen, a former Congressman and the current president and CEO of Lead1, an organization that lobbies on behalf of FBS athletic directors, told The Athletic last month. “You’ve got states now, like Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas, who have basically declared independence. They like the fact that they can go out and do whatever they want on NIL and they’re not regulated. Would their members of Congress go along with a federal preemptive standard?”
That might be the most important question yet to be answered.

 

[cwessel76]

Let’s be honest with ourselves: the current state of NIL is not sustainable long-term.

 

[Carm]

Let’s be honest with ourselves: the current state of NIL is not sustainable long-term.

100% agreed, buy also note how the drafters start wedging themselves into non-NIL areas. You ask for help like Sankey did, and you are likely to get more help than you want.

 

[cwessel76]

100% agreed, buy also note how the drafters start wedging themselves into non-NIL areas. You ask for help like Sankey did, and you are likely to get more help than you want.

Schools and collectives shot themselves in the foot by not creating some sort of even very loose framework. It’s the Wild West and it was only a matter of time before more and more oversight came raining down on them.

The NCAA also can’t help but stepping on their own dicks either. It’s hilarious.

 

[Carm]

Schools and collectives shot themselves in the foot by not creating some sort of even very loose framework. It’s the Wild West and it was only a matter of time before more and more oversight came raining down on them.

The NCAA also can’t help but stepping on their own dicks either. It’s hilarious.

There is a very real concern within the NCAA that after the Supreme Ct decision in Alston their ability to make enforceable rules is gone. That has sort of paralyzed them.

I think that's also why we are seeing stuff in the proposal about transfers, scholarship guarantees, etc.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

As much as people like shrieking that the federal government sucks at any given opportunity (and many times the shrieking is justified), no one has proposed a viable alternative to federal legislation to turn NIL from a 5 alarm raging dumpster fire into a more contained dumpster fire.

The returning to school after going undrafted piece is interesting, but man is that gonna fuck up scholarship distributions if the NCAA isn't out in front on it (which they won't be lolz).

Also important to remember this is a first proposal

 

[Carm]

The bipartisan bill’s discussion draft also prohibits NIL deals from being used as recruiting inducements or to retain players currently on a team’s roster, according to the Yahoo! report.

 

[Carm]

The structure of NIL compensation that seems to emerge from this would likely eliminate collectives.

 

[That SOB Van Owen]

The bipartisan bill’s discussion draft also prohibits NIL deals from being used as recruiting inducements or to retain players currently on a team’s roster, according to the Yahoo! report.

How TF do you enforce that? Welcome back bag men!

 

[cwessel76]

How TF do you enforce that? Welcome back bag men!

 

[Ext. 55]

Draft of new bipartisan NIL bill calls for central oversight entity to enforce rules​

By Nicole Auerbach
2h ago
28

---

U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Thursday circulated a discussion draft of federal legislation they say would protect college athletes’ economic, health and educational rights. The bill is called the College Athletes Protection & Compensation Act, and it would preempt state NIL laws.


The bill proposes the formation of the College Athletics Corporation (CAC), a central oversight entity that would set, administer, and enforce rules and standards to protect athletes who enter into endorsement contracts. The CAC would establish rules and investigatory processes to enforce this law. There would be a 15-member board of directors that oversees the CAC, and at least five board members must be current or former college athletes. The CAC would have its own constitution and bylaws. It would also have subpoena power and could use it to compel deposition testimony on behalf of the NCAA if it has “appropriate requests.”
The discussion draft includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Athletes would be allowed to have representatives, such as agents, and those representatives would need to be certified by the CAC. Schools would not be able to represent athletes in endorsement contract negotiations.
• Schools would be prohibited from punishing athletes for receiving food, rent, medical expenses, insurance, tuition, fees, books and transportation from a third party. Schools would also be required to cover athletes’ aid until they graduate, even if they suffer a career-ending injury.
• Athletes making more than $1,000 per year would need to disclose their endorsement contracts to a designated employee of their university, and recruits would need to provide copies of their current and expired name, image and likeness deals to that same person before signing a national letter of intent. These disclosures would not be made public and would not be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.
• An athlete who no longer participates in their sport while operating under an NIL contract of more than a year can rescind it without being held liable for breach of contract.
• Any athlete can declare for a draft and come back to school after going undrafted with notice within seven days of the draft taking place, as long as he or she does not accept compensation from a league, team or agent.
• Athletes would be able to transfer one time and play right away at their second school, which is an NCAA rule but not law. Transfers would not be able to transfer during the season or in the 60 days leading up to the season.
• A medical trust fund would be established that would cover the out-of-pocket expenses for injuries and other long-term conditions resulting from athletes’ participation in college sports.
• State attorneys general could bring civil action if they believe a citizen has been harmed by a violation of the Act.
• The law would pre-empt state NIL laws and prohibit them from establishing laws related to NIL rights and anything that would prohibit an athlete’s ability to transfer.

The bill establishes health and safety standards for conditions such as traumatic brain injuries and heat-related illnesses along with areas such as sexual assault and interpersonal violence. It would require that athletic trainers, physical therapists and physicians have autonomous authority to determine medical management and return-to-play decisions for athletes under their care. The CAC would be able to audit, visit and investigate schools — and it could issue a lifetime ban for anyone violating health and safety standards.
Schools would be required to report revenues and expenditures of each athletics program, the average number of hours college athletes spent on college athletic events and academic outcomes and majors for college athletes. Athletes would be required to take financial literacy and lifestyle development courses.

Background​

Booker, Blumenthal and Moran have all been active in NIL legislation for years. Booker and Blumenthal had previously proposed (and amended) their College Athletes Bill of Rights, which would have given athletes the ability to unionize and share revenue with their leagues and schools, along with other healthcare-related protections. In 2021, Moran proposed a bill that addressed athletes’ NIL rights but also provided the NCAA the legal protection it seeks against antitrust lawsuits that challenge its athlete compensation rules. Moran’s bill also addressed transfer rules and the ability of athletes to return to college after going undrafted in a professional sports draft.

Last month The Athletic reported industry sources’ expectation that the Booker and Blumenthal bill would not garner widespread Republican support but could be used as an opening negotiating stance toward bipartisan resolution. Speaking to USA Today in 2021, Moran said he was open to something similar.
“No piece of legislation at this point that’s going to pass remains identical to what it is today,” he told the newspaper. “But I think that the changes that could be made to my bill are ones that are modest, are reasonable, are in the vein of what this legislation is, which is something that is designed to be sufficiently appealing to a broad enough group of legislators that it gets passed.”
No NIL bill has made it out of committee yet.

What they’re saying​

“This bipartisan framework is a milestone step forward for college athletes — protecting sports heroes whose blood, sweat and sacrifice drive a multibillion-dollar industry,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “They need a level playing field with guarantees of economic opportunities, educational outcomes and essential health care. For far too long the NCAA and powerful special interests have held sway, putting athletes second to dollars. Athletes deserve national NIL standards, a Medical Trust Fund, scholarship safeguards, protection against mistreatment and abuse, and more. America’s athletes — all 500,000 — deserve these basic rights. I thank my colleagues Senators Booker and Moran for all the hard work necessary to reach this milestone.”
Moran added that “it is no secret that college athletics have grown into an increasingly profitable, billion-dollar industry, however the rules surrounding athlete compensation have not been modernized. Together, Sens. Booker, Blumenthal and I are releasing this discussion draft to empower student athletes while maintaining the integrity of college sports that we all know and love.”

Booker added that his experience as a college athlete “was one of the greatest gifts of my life” but that it “also opened my eyes to some deep, systemic injustices in the system — a system that, to this day, continues to put profits over athletes. This bipartisan proposal represents a major step forward.”

What comes next​

Since July 1, 2021, the NCAA has deferred to the NIL policies set by individual states. Some of the ensuing laws adopted, including those in Arkansas and Missouri, have taken an aggressive approach to the NIL market, allowing for more direct involvement by school officials in the negotiation of athletes’ NIL deals and going so far as to explicitly say that their state laws supersede any conflicting NCAA rules. In response, many athletics administrators have trekked to Washington, D.C., in recent months, seeking a national standard for sports that compete in national championships. (The NCAA has said that schools are voluntary members of its organization and therefore must follow its rules, even if their states are more permissive.)
The NCAA hired former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker as its new president earlier this year because it believes he can engage and motivate Congress to act to protect the NCAA’s ability to make rules, particularly around NIL activity. One of the areas Baker has been particularly vocal about is deal disclosure, which is included in this new bill. The bill also does not label college athletes as employees — something else Baker and the NCAA as vehemently opposed to.
Still, no one knows exactly how urgent this type of legislation is to the rest of the Senate or the House of Representatives, especially with an election year ahead in 2024.
“The volume (of interest) has increased — I just don’t know that it’s a must-do,” Tom McMillen, a former Congressman and the current president and CEO of Lead1, an organization that lobbies on behalf of FBS athletic directors, told The Athletic last month. “You’ve got states now, like Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas, who have basically declared independence. They like the fact that they can go out and do whatever they want on NIL and they’re not regulated. Would their members of Congress go along with a federal preemptive standard?”
That might be the most important question yet to be answered.

So how are they gonna tax it?

 

[Baron Winnebago]

So how are they gonna tax it?

Bend over and I'll show ya

 

[...TrueColors...]

Explain to me like I’m five why NIL is a dumpster fire the way it is

 

[Baron Winnebago]

Explain to me like I’m five why NIL is a dumpster fire the way it is

Schools play by different rules based on state laws.

Maybe you're of the position it's amateur sports and who gives a shit, which would be reasonable.

This sets aside "inducements" to get guys to transfer which is not really an NIL problem, but has probably gotten worse

 

[...TrueColors...]

Schools play by different rules based on state laws.

Maybe you're of the position it's amateur sports and who gives a shit, which would be reasonable.

This sets aside "inducements" to get guys to transfer which is not really an NIL problem, but has probably gotten worse

I personally think this should be way down the list of priorities for our legislature, yes.

I can see the point about playing by different rules based on state laws.

Other than that though, it seems like the ones who complain about NIL in its current state and claim it’s unsustainable and a dumpster fire are the ones who currently suck at it. I’m not seeing many compelling arguments to suggest that to be so.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

I personally think this should be way down the list of priorities for our legislature, yes.

I can see the point about playing by different rules based on state laws.

Other than that though, it seems like the ones who complain about NIL in its current state and claim it’s unsustainable and a dumpster fire are the ones who currently suck at it. I’m not seeing many compelling arguments to suggest that to be so.

Nebraska (allegedly) sucking at it has nothing to do with my views on it and I don't think it should be a priority either. Congress does like "easy wins" where they can find it though but the congressional agenda is a different can of worms.

Maybe all of the state laws and the lack of enforcement of anything will end up being fine in the long run, but I have my doubts. Still early in the game though and we've already seen some market stabilizing as far as crazy money being thrown out so I guess we will see.

Also possible the things that I think are really bad NIL is only an incidental part of, for example poaching players,

 

[...TrueColors...]

Nebraska (allegedly) sucking at it has nothing to do with my views on it and I don't think it should be a priority either. Congress does like "easy wins" where they can find it though but the congressional agenda is a different can of worms.

Maybe all of the state laws and the lack of enforcement of anything will end up being fine in the long run, but I have my doubts. Still early in the game though and we've already seen some market stabilizing as far as crazy money being thrown out so I guess we will see.

Also possible the things that I think are really bad NIL is only an incidental part of, for example poaching players,

I’ve said it before. I’ll say it once more and be done beating this drum.

I’m just not seeing how regulation is good here. All it’ll do is strive for some form of what they believe to be “equality.” Schools will play by the rules and the SEC will cheat. So we end up where we were Pre-NIL.

 

[Ext. 55]

Bend over and I'll show ya

So we are definitely gonna land in the highest tax bracket I see.

 

[Carm]

Can't really blame Congress when the NCAA and the SEC are asking for legislation.