Congress NIL Debates Heat Up

On Wednesday March 29th, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held their first hearing in over two years involving college sports. The main topic of discussion being name, image, and likeness rules and regulations for athletes.

The objective of the meeting was to establish federal law for NIL compensation and to wrangle in the “Wild West” that NIL has become. Seven previous hearings have been held to try and resolve this issue, but none have made any progress.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, one of the main advocators for passing a federal NIL law, hopes to gain transparency for athletes going into these deals. “The lack of uniformity across different states and institutions has created confusion and uncertainty and a federal standard is needed, so all athletes are playing by the same rules,” Bilirakis said. “In short, we must strike a delicate balance between the rights of college athletes to profit from their own NIL while keeping the amateur status for all college athletes.”

Lawmakers questioned six witnesses to get their perspective on the issue. Most encouraged congress to act and create federal laws for NIL. Washington State athletic director Pat Chun says “We need transparency in the marketplace”. Many are hoping that with federal intervention the NIL marketplace will become a safer place for student athletes seeking NIL deals and will protect them from “bad actors”.

However, there is opposition to the federal government getting involved. Jason Stahl, executive director of the College Football Players Association claims that any regulations created by the federal government will only serve the interests of the school and the NCAA. He is concerned that student athletes may lose opportunities to create value for themselves in the short time they have in college sports.

Rep. Cathy Rodgers brings up that the current NIL laws and regulations leave student-athletes to fend for themselves. “Those at the top of their game must figure out how to maneuver through a multiple of agents, collectives, and high dollar contract offers all while maintaining their academic and athletic commitments.” With the lack of federal laws currently in place the pressure and power is in the hands of the student-athletes.

NCAA President, Charlie Baker, summarizes both sides of the issue. “NIL is a powerful vehicle that rightfully allows student-athletes the ability to earn compensation from their unique market value. At the same time, the lack of transparency in today’s NIL marketplace puts student-athletes in jeopardy of exploitation by bad actors.”

The discussion then changed to the topic of classifying student-athletes as employees for the university. Which would then require the university to share sports related revenue with their athletes. A federal lawsuit in Pennsylvania is seeking to make colleges treat all Division 1 athletes like employees and to pay them hourly wages.

Caley Mudge, a Florida State softball player, says that a creation of an employer-employee relationship would change everything we know about college sports and how they are supported. Sports with less funding would struggle to have the budget to pay their players and pay for all the things athletes need to succeed.

If an employer-employee dynamic in college sports was created unions would follow. The college sports world would be flipped on its head once again.

This hearing is one step in a long journey for NIL at the college level as regulations will continue to change.

In addition to the congressional hearing, NCAA President Charlie Baker was interviewed by NBC News on April 2nd, 2022. Baker was asked about what he would like congress to accomplish with NIL. His main focus is transparency for NIL deals to create a more fair and standard market. In the current landscape “everyone lies” making it hard to figure out how much money is being made and distributed to these athletes. The final goal is a new NIL landscape that is safer for student-athletes and their families.

Baker also voices that he is against classifying student-athletes as employees. He brings up that the employer-employee relationship would not work for smaller schools whose sports don’t bring in money. The idea looks good on paper for those power 5 schools but leaves the rest of the NCAA universities in some trouble.

NIL continues to move quickly across the student-athlete landscape and will continue to evolve rapidly. Educating yourself on all the impacts of NIL and what is available is the first step.

Eccker Sports is the leader in NIL education and will keep you up to date with the ever changing landscape of NIL. For more information and to become a member, please visit www.ecckersports.com.