How college athletes are taking advantage of NIL
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Senators Tommy Tuberville, Joe Manchin working with SEC on bill to tackle NIL
Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Joe Manchin asked the Southeastern Conference on Wednesday for feedback and ideas on how to regulate the way college athletes are compensated for their names, images and likenesses.
Tuberville (R-Ala.), a former college football coach who led Auburn to an undefeated season in 2004, and Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced their staffs have already begun drafting a NIL bill that they said would will be in compliance.
"The lack of meaningful leadership and a lack of clarity in this area resulting from Alston (Supreme Court decision) means that the U.S. Congress must act to set clear ground rules for student-athletes and institutions alike," the senators wrote in a letter to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. "Like you, we have the common goals of protecting student-athletes, ensuring fair competition and compensation, and preserving the time-honored traditions of college sports."
Manchin is friends with Alabama football coach and West Virginia native Nick Saban.
Sankey and Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff met with Tuberville, Manchin and other lawmakers during a lobbying trip to Capitol Hill in May.
College sports leaders, including outgoing NCAA President Mark Emmert, have repeatedly called for help from Congress in regulating name, image and likeness compensation since even before the NCAA last summer lifted its restrictions on athletes cashing in on their fame.
The NCAA removed its ban on NIL compensation for athletes without setting detailed, uniform rules. A patchwork of state laws has created a complicated landscape for college athletic departments and allowed boosters to become involved in ways that challenge the NCAA's ability to enforce the broad rules that are in place.
At least eight bills related to college sports have been filed by federal lawmakers over the past four years - some more narrowly addressing NIL and others targeting other athlete benefits and issues. There has been no substantive movement on any of them.
One of them, the College Athlete Bill of Rights put forth by Democrats Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal in 2020, is set to be reintroduced by the senators, SI.com reported Wednesday.
Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Joe Manchin asked the Southeastern Conference on Wednesday for feedback and ideas on how to regulate the way college athletes are compensated for their names, images and likenesses.
Tuberville (R-Ala.), a former college football coach who led Auburn to an undefeated season in 2004, and Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced their staffs have already begun drafting a NIL bill that they said would will be in compliance.
"The lack of meaningful leadership and a lack of clarity in this area resulting from Alston (Supreme Court decision) means that the U.S. Congress must act to set clear ground rules for student-athletes and institutions alike," the senators wrote in a letter to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. "Like you, we have the common goals of protecting student-athletes, ensuring fair competition and compensation, and preserving the time-honored traditions of college sports."
Manchin is friends with Alabama football coach and West Virginia native Nick Saban.
Sankey and Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff met with Tuberville, Manchin and other lawmakers during a lobbying trip to Capitol Hill in May.
College sports leaders, including outgoing NCAA President Mark Emmert, have repeatedly called for help from Congress in regulating name, image and likeness compensation since even before the NCAA last summer lifted its restrictions on athletes cashing in on their fame.
The NCAA removed its ban on NIL compensation for athletes without setting detailed, uniform rules. A patchwork of state laws has created a complicated landscape for college athletic departments and allowed boosters to become involved in ways that challenge the NCAA's ability to enforce the broad rules that are in place.
At least eight bills related to college sports have been filed by federal lawmakers over the past four years - some more narrowly addressing NIL and others targeting other athlete benefits and issues. There has been no substantive movement on any of them.
One of them, the College Athlete Bill of Rights put forth by Democrats Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal in 2020, is set to be reintroduced by the senators, SI.com reported Wednesday.
She is 100% correct this is why the NIL deal came about these players, especially the black players could do a lot more. Also, I know some of these white school coaches are pissed off at Deion Sanders, but it is what it is. Also, the Supreme Court better not fuck with affirmative action or you are going to have a lot of black players leave and go to HBCUs.
They are not going to touch this. Once you open up this Pandora’s box, there’s no closing it.
Pass Act aims to protect athletes, 'integrity' of college sports
For the second time in the past week, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators proposed a federal law that would regulate how college athletes are allowed to make money and reshape the healthcare they are guaranteed to receive from schools.Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Joe Manchin introduced the Pass Act of 2023 on Tuesday, calling it a year-long effort that they hope "strikes a balance between protecting the rights of student-athletes and maintaining the integrity of college sports."
The bill is the first to be introduced this summer, but it joins other drafts of similar legislation shared by members of both the Senate and the House in recent months.
Federal lawmakers have proposed more than a dozen bills to reform college sports in the past three years, but thus far none has made it beyond the first step in the legislative process. Leaders from the NCAA, its most powerful conferences and many of its schools have traveled to Washington this summer to try to convince Congress to act. They say that the current lack of a nationwide standard has created a "race to the bottom" among state legislatures that are passing laws designed to try to give teams in their state a competitive advantage in recruiting.
Along with creating a national law for NIL deals, the Pass Act would also require schools to provide health coverage for sports-related injuries for eight years after athletes finish their college eligibility. Athletic departments that generate more than $20 million annually would also be required to cover out-of-pocket medical costs for two years after an athlete's playing career. Athletic departments that generate more than $50 million annually would have to cover four years of out-of-pocket expenses.
The bill also seeks to create a certification process for agents that work with college athletes, a public database for anonymized NIL data, and a uniform contract for athletes to use in NIL deals. Those items have been on the wish list of NCAA president Charlie Baker since he took on his new position in March.
Baker has said he wants Congress to create "consumer protections" for athletes as part of a new law.
"This important legislation is a major step in the right direction to ensure the health and safety of student-athletes, includes key measures to increase consumer protections and transparency in the NIL market, and aims to protect women's and Olympic sports," Baker said in a statement provided by press aides for Manchin and Tuberville.
The bill would make it illegal for states to pass individual laws that allow college athletes to receive a direct share of the billions of dollars of revenue they help to generate. This past year, a state representative in California proposed a bill that would allow for revenue sharing on teams that produce a significant amount of money for their schools. The bill was paused this summer.
"[The Pass Act] represents another step forward on the pathway to securing the future of college athletics," a joint statement from the Power 5 conferences said Tuesday. "The recent increase in activity from lawmakers demonstrates the growing consensus that federal NIL legislation is necessary and now is the time to act. We will continue working with members of Congress from both parties to develop a federal NIL standard in the coming weeks and months."
The senators also suggest making it against federal law for a college athlete to transfer without sitting out a year until he or she has used at least three years of their college eligibility -- except for extreme circumstances, such as the death of a family member. Coaches and athletic directors have complained during the past year that the combination of NIL money and a relatively new NCAA rule that allows players to transfer without penalty has made it difficult to maintain a steady roster.
"[W]e need to ensure the integrity of our higher education system, remain focused on education, and keep the playing field level," said Tuberville, who coached football at Texas Tech, Cincinnati and Auburn prior to starting his political career.
Congress begins its month-long summer recess next week. With an election year on the horizon and multiple pending legal cases that could make college athletes into employees of their schools or conferences, college sports administrators believe the window for passing federal legislation to regulate how athletes make money may be closing quickly.
Those leaders are still lacking consensus on the best way to address what they view as the problems with the current college sports model.
American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco, for example, said the NCAA needs "to be very careful" about "looking to Congress for answers to NIL and other questions" after reading a draft version of a bill introduced last week by three other senators -- Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal and Jerry Moran -- that provided for more prescriptive changes to some of the NCAA's current operations.
"The current Blumenthal-Booker-Moran draft bill concerns me," Aresco's statement said. "Any such bill should be subject to great scrutiny. The establishment of a third party governing body overseeing college sports concerns me. WE should be controlling our affairs. Yes, we need some federal legislative or court protection, but WE need the ability to execute whatever reasonable plan that WE adopt."
Name, Image, and Likeness, and the Future of College Sports | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
www.judiciary.senate.gov
https://bynum.house.gov/media/press...partisan-landmark-nil-legislation-protect-and
Press Release
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.) and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) introduced the College Student-athlete Protections and Opportunities through Rights, Transparency, and Safety (College SPORTS) Act. This landmark comprehensive bipartisan bill will establish national standards for how college athletes can earn compensation from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). The bill also strengthens academic, health, and financial protections for collegiate athletics.
The introduction of the College SPORTS Act represents the first major push by Congress to establish standards and protections for NIL recipients.
"As the mom of a D1 athlete, I've seen firsthand how important – and how long overdue – it was to allow our student athletes to earn their fair share," Rep. Bynum said. "I'm proud to be leading first-of-its-kind legislation alongside Chairwoman McClain to guarantee that all student athletes can earn fair compensation, access a complete and quality education, get care for sports related injuries, and develop the skills they need to succeed after college. I look forward to moving this bipartisan bill forward and delivering both strong protections and good opportunities to student athletes."
“For too long, college athletes have generated enormous value for their schools and athletic programs without being allowed to share in the success they help create,” Chairwoman McClain said. “We’re protecting the values that make college athletics great while modernizing the system to reflect today’s reality. This bill preserves the student-athlete model while offering real protections, real opportunity, and real fairness. I appreciate Congresswoman Bynum for partnering with me to get this bipartisan legislation moving forward.”
Key provisions of the College SPORTS Act include:
Bynum, McClain Introduce Bipartisan, Landmark NIL Legislation to Protect and Preserve College Athletics
June 10, 2025Press Release
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.) and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) introduced the College Student-athlete Protections and Opportunities through Rights, Transparency, and Safety (College SPORTS) Act. This landmark comprehensive bipartisan bill will establish national standards for how college athletes can earn compensation from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). The bill also strengthens academic, health, and financial protections for collegiate athletics.
The introduction of the College SPORTS Act represents the first major push by Congress to establish standards and protections for NIL recipients.
"As the mom of a D1 athlete, I've seen firsthand how important – and how long overdue – it was to allow our student athletes to earn their fair share," Rep. Bynum said. "I'm proud to be leading first-of-its-kind legislation alongside Chairwoman McClain to guarantee that all student athletes can earn fair compensation, access a complete and quality education, get care for sports related injuries, and develop the skills they need to succeed after college. I look forward to moving this bipartisan bill forward and delivering both strong protections and good opportunities to student athletes."
“For too long, college athletes have generated enormous value for their schools and athletic programs without being allowed to share in the success they help create,” Chairwoman McClain said. “We’re protecting the values that make college athletics great while modernizing the system to reflect today’s reality. This bill preserves the student-athlete model while offering real protections, real opportunity, and real fairness. I appreciate Congresswoman Bynum for partnering with me to get this bipartisan legislation moving forward.”
Key provisions of the College SPORTS Act include:
- NIL Rights: Codifies the right of college athletes to receive compensation for their name, image, and likeness. Prohibits the NCAA and schools from penalizing student-athletes for NIL activity.
- Extended Academic Access: Allows student-athletes to use their scholarships to complete a degree within 10 years, even if they leave school early.
- Health & Life Skills Education: Requires Division I, II, and III schools participating in a Division I sport to provide training on mental health, sexual violence prevention, nutrition, career preparation, NIL education, and more.
- Medical Protections: Requires schools to cover the medical costs of sports-related injuries for at least four years after the athlete leaves the institution.
- Scholarship Security: Prohibits schools from canceling or reducing scholarships based on athletic performance, injury, or roster management.
- Agent Oversight: Establishes agent registration and disclosure requirements to protect athletes from exploitation.
- Employment Status: Prohibits student-athletes from being classified as employees of their university, preserving the collegiate nonprofessional model.
- Federal Preemption: Creates a single national standard, overriding inconsistent state laws to ensure clarity for athletes, schools, and sponsors.