▶ 0:18:04will come to order. The chairman recognizes himself for five minutes. for an opening statement. Good morning everyone and welcome to our legislative hearing on name, image, likeness, and college athletics. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. Uh your experience and insight are critical as we navigate what is arguably one of the most transformative moments in the history of college sports.
▶ 0:18:34In recent years, we've seen a dramatic shift in college athletes engaging in uh in their sports, their schools, and their personal brands. The recent House versus NCAA settlement represents more than just a court decision. It marks a fundamental change and how college athletes athletics will operate going forward.
▶ 0:19:02The timing couldn't be more appropriate for legislative action in my opinion. That's why I'm leading the SCORE Act, the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act, a comprehensive common sense discussion draft that reflects months of dialogue with student athletes, athletic directors, conference leaders, and the This is not just another proposal.
▶ 0:19:32It's a targeted solution designed to bring fairness, and long-term balance to a system that has rapidly evolved without The SCORE Act is built around three core clarity by establishing a national standard that replaces the current patchwork of state laws.
▶ 0:20:00stability by setting reasonable guard rails around the transfer portal and NIL deals to protect both athletes and programs and support by ensuring benefits like scholarship protections and financial literacy programs are not optional but expected. For far too long, student athletes have operated in a gray area, empowered in some ways, but exposed in others.
▶ 0:20:31The current model lacks the transparency and consistency that both athletes and institutions need. The score act brings that balance in my opinion. And while today's hearing is just the beginning of a broader tri committee process with the committees on judiciary and education and workforce so the two committees it's an important step so three committees total including this one NC the best committee in Congress by the way
▶ 0:21:02we're not here to micromanage college sports we are here to put forward a framework that strengthens it that ensures athletes can succeed on the field without losing sight of their future off of it. I'm proud of the work this subcommittee has done on this issue and I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get this across the finish line. Oh, and by the way, it's great to be a Florida Gator.
▶ 0:21:32All right, so the chairman now recognizes the ranking member, Miss Shakowski, for five minutes for her opening statement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 0:21:48I'm happy to be here uh today and uh in part, I believe that there is a role for the the Congress, but not necessarily the one that we're looking at today.
▶ 0:22:05and I am looking forward to working on it further and hearing the testimony on what we really need to make sure for me um the health and welfare of the students is the most important thing. Um, but we have a real expert among us on all of uh the someone who's been involved in sports all of uh her growing life.
▶ 0:22:36And I wanted to uh yield now to Congresswoman Trhan and also uh after that if she would if she would yield to uh Congresswoman Kelly. Clark. Oh, Clark, I'm sorry. Clark, of course. Thank you. I want to thank the ranking member for yielding. I'm deeply disappointed.
▶ 0:22:58For the second year in a row, Republicans on the committee are advancing a partisan college sports bill that protects the power brokers of college athletics at the expense of the athletes themselves. This legislation was crafted behind closed doors with no input from Democratic members on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Judiciary Committee, or the Education and Workforce Committee.
▶ 0:23:21In fact, we didn't see a draft of this bill until late last week, not because our Republican colleagues shared it with us, but because lobbyists and the med members of the media got it first. I'm a former D1 athlete, and I'm deeply uh I care deeply about the future of college sports. So that when I asked the chairman about the rumored hearing today, he said he'd be happy to discuss the pro proposal with me beforehand. Sadly, that meeting never happened.
▶ 0:23:48What makes this all the more frustrating is that there is bipartisan agreement on serious problems in college sports that deserve congressional action. International athletes are being denied the same NIL rights as their teammates. Women are being left out of roster spots due to Title 9 loopholes. We could be working together on solutions. Instead, the score act uses the approval of the House settlement as justification to slam the door on future progress for college athletes.
▶ 0:24:19Proponents claim the system is broken, but the fact that three separate antirust cases are being settled proves otherwise. We have a system where the NCAA conferences and their member institutions set rules. Athletes can challenge them. And if the rules are unfair, courts can intervene or a deal can be struck.
▶ 0:24:39This bill rewrites that process to guarantee that people in power always win and the athletes who fuel this multi-billion dollar industry always lose. I oppose the legislation as written. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses and I yield to Congresswoman Clark. I thank my dear colleague and the ranking member Shakows Shakowski for yielding some time and thank you to our panel of witnesses for joining us today.
▶ 0:25:05The landscape of college sports has undergone a rapid transformation over the last decade including with the recent settlement of landmark house v uh NCAA lawsuit. But one thing remains the enduring popularity of college athletics. College football remains the second most watched sport in American in America behind the NFL and this year's men's basketball final four was the most watched since 2017.
▶ 0:25:32Women's basketball has experienced an exponential growth in popularity in recent years due to stars such as Angel Ree, Catelyn Clark, and Juju Watkins. The point is, is that the so-called wild west environment that is often used to describe college sports in this committee is an unfair characterization.
▶ 0:25:51For far too long, college sports prioritized some antiquated definition of amateurism that provided cover to allow the billions of dollars created by the labor of college athletes to flow to co coaches, athletic departments, conferences, and the NCAA. just about everyone was getting paid except for those who efforts created all these streams of revenue, the players, primarily black and brown young people.
▶ 0:26:18So to call this the Wild West or the NIL NIL era is ridiculous. Let's call this what it really is, the era of athletes empowerment. We should embrace that, not seek to rein it in just because the job of the college athletic director got a little harder.
▶ 0:26:34There may be a role for Congress to play in protecting college athletes and providing clarity in certain areas, but it is incumbent on us not to screw this up by giving undue authority back to the remnants of the previous power structure that exploited athletes for decades by keeping them unpaid and subject to restrictions we would not allow in any other industry. I look forward to today's discussion and I yield back. Thank you.
▶ 0:27:05back and Miss Shakowski yields back. So, uh, anyway, I just want to address a couple things. Uh, Mr. uh and and you know that I have an open door policy and I know did agree to meet with you and don't think anybody reached out to my office to make the appointment but I'll be happy I'll be happy to to meet with you any time and also to remind the committee that this is a discussion draft. It's not a bill.
▶ 0:27:35So, it's not finalized and that's why we're here today to to make the bill even better or at least make the discussion draft which will become a bill even better. So, uh and at some of the issu uh the comments that were made by other members at this time so far uh read read the discussion draft. I I urge you to do that and also read the the settlement which is addresses some of the issues that that concern all of us.
▶ 0:28:05So we appreciate it very much and with that I will yield to the chairman uh Representative Guthrie uh from the great state of ten uh excuse me Kentucky for five minutes for his opening statement. Thank you. Thank you uh Chair Bill Rockinson. Thank you for your hard work on this. And good morning to our witnesses and thank you all for being here.
▶ 0:28:27And before we dive in, uh, we need to look at name, image, and likeness agreements with our own ethics loss because I believe August Fluger after his great play at third base last night is going to be open for opportunities for his I don't know if anybody saw his diving play on third base. All joking aside, this is a serious issue, but he did do well. But I look forward to a thought-provoking discussion that we've already started today on the ways Congress can more specifically um this committee can help stabilize the current system.
▶ 0:28:54And this subcommittee has deeply engaged on this issue. Just this year we've had numerous hearings, roundts with student athletes, coaches, athletic directors, conference leaders, and the NCAA. And the work has accumulated in a discussion draft, the SCORE Act, a legislative proposal to bring stability and clarity to the NIL arena. Last week, the approval of the House litigation settlement marked a historic shift in college athletics.
▶ 0:29:21Since the NCAA changed their NIL rules in 2021, the NIL ecosystem has operated without meaningful guard rails. Mentioned I enjoyed the game last night. I don't know if all of you know in the audience, but we had our congressional baseball game last night and and August. I did see the play with August. Um, and the only thing I would say is I I know the Democrats lost, but uh we did better than we did the previous year. So, I hope we're on the upswing is uh is what I'm going to say.
▶ 0:29:51Um, I do have to say though, Mr. Chairman of the Bill Rockus, before we begin, and I don't mean to take away from this hearing, but I am very concerned about the fact that um, you know, in order to have college sports, you have to have colleges, right? And I do believe that the Trump administration is trying to destroy American higher education every day. Every day.
▶ 0:30:13And we should be having hearings on those aspects of his destruction of America's universities and colleges that fall within the jurisdiction of the committee. Um, you know, I am very concerned that some of of our best universities like Harvard and Colombia, for example, are really going to go under uh or really suffer greatly because of this administration. I mean we see uh elimination of research projects which is within our jurisdiction.
▶ 0:30:39We see trying to tax endowments to the point where there essentially won't be any endowments. Taking away accreditation. Can you imagine that the president is trying to take away the accreditation of Harvard and Colombia. To me this is so extreme. I can't even imagine that someone would suggest it. Take prohibiting foreign students. You talk about uh international athletes. He doesn't want any uh international students at any university. So what are we talking about here? And of course the abolishment of the department of education.
▶ 0:31:10So my point is you can't have college sports if you don't have colleges. And we should be talking about his effort to destroy colleges and universities. Not just the sports programs, but the colleges themselves. Now getting to the issue at hand, we've heard countless We've had countless hearings about college sports over the last few years. And in every hearing, we've heard that for decades, the National Collegiate Athletic Association failed to put the interests of college athletes first.
▶ 0:31:36Every witness we've heard from has agreed that finally allowing college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness is a good thing and represents a long overdue change in college uh sports. And changing the rules so that college athletes can now profit from name, image, and likeness was a hard-fought change won by college athletes, not by congressional action. We can pat ourselves on on the back, but it wasn't us. It was through state legislatores and the court system.
▶ 0:32:03Just last week, a court approved a historic settlement in House versus NCA that allows schools to pay college athletes subject to a salary cap of $20.5 million per school. And this is the first time the NCA will allow colleges and universities to pay college athletes for the talents those athletes bring to their institutions, conferences, and the NCAA. Instead of celebrating progress made by college athletes, the Republican majority has called a hearing today on a legislative draft that would bring this progress to a dramatic halt.
▶ 0:32:33The legislation grants the NCAA a broad exemption from legal liability and seemingly limitless and unchecked authority to govern how college athletes can get paid, transfer schools, or be represented by an agent. Rather than offering college athletes new strong enforceable protections, the Republican bill simply codifies recent NCAA health and safety rules, but leaves college athletes no way to enforce violation of these protections.
▶ 0:32:58The bill does not offer any meaningless protect any meaningful protections to help ensure college students don't hire bad actors as agents and it does not provide pathways to relief if they do. Instead, it simply allows the NCA and the conferences to require agents to register with those institutions. This act of registration with a third party will do little to help college athletes and could create a false sense of security regarding the integrity of registered agents.
▶ 0:33:23So as we discuss this bill, I believe it's important that we don't do anything stifles the progress being won by the students that the NCAA is supposed to represent. The landscapes of modern college sports is well on its way to being developed by these recent court decisions and Congress Congress should allow that work to play out.
▶ 0:33:41And instead, this committee should be focused on the very real issues facing colleges and universities as well as everyday Americans because the bottom line is not going to be any college sports if there no if there are no colleges or if there no colleges have no money and don't have any ability to function. And that's where we're headed. That's where we're headed with the Trump administration. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Uh, this concludes opening statements.
▶ 0:34:06The chair would like to remind members that pursuant to the committee rules, all members opening statements will be made part of the record. Want to thank all of our witnesses here today uh and and taking thanks for taking the time to testify before this subcommittee. Our witnesses today are Sherekica Montgomery and she's a commissioner for the Big South Conference. Welcome.
▶ 0:34:36And then next we have uh let's see uh Ramoji uh Huma. Is that right? The executive director of the National College Players Association. Welcome. Uh we have Mr. Uh, William King, associate commissioner and legal affairs compliance at the Southeastern Conference. Welcome, sir.
▶ 0:34:59And we have Miss Ashley Kat, swimming student, athlete, and division one sack chair at the University of North Florida, class of 2024. Welcome. So, uh, per committee custom, each, uh, witness will have the opportunity five minutes for an opening statement followed by a round of questions from members.
▶ 0:35:24The light on the timer in front of you will turn from green to yellow when you have one minute left. So, uh, let's start with, uh, Miss Montgomery. You're recognized for five minutes for your opening statement. Thank you so much, Chairman Billis. Vice Chairman Folure, Ranking Member Skakowski, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
▶ 0:35:50It is truly an honor to speak on an issue that I care deeply about, the evolving landscape of college athletics. As a former women's basketball student athlete, I know firsthand the tremendous and invaluable impact of a prominent student athlete experience. It is not hyperbold to say that an orange basketball changed the trajectory of my life and professional career. College athletics provided me with a pathway to higher education and an opportunity to compete on the division one level.
▶ 0:36:18Nearly 15 years later, I have united and innate advocacy for optimal student athlete experiences and serve it in transformative leadership. I turned my advocation into my vocation. With a background in NCA governance and compliance, I have served at all three levels of college athletics, a college campus, three division one conference offices, and the NCAA national office. The Big South Conference includes nine member institutions in three continuous states.
▶ 0:36:46That's North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The Big South Conference sponsors 19 championship sports while providing supreme academic experiences and highly competitive athletics to nearly 3,400 student athletes. For over 40 years, the Big South Conference has been unwavering in its commitment to fostering the academic, personal, social, athletic, and leadership development of its student athletes.
▶ 0:37:11During the 23 24 academic year, the conference achieved a league record of nearly 74% of eligible student athletes earning a 3.0 gradepoint average or better. Even more impressive, a total of 1,39 non- student athletes earned a 3.5 grade point average or better. During the 2425 academic year, our top athletic accomplishments included 18 victories over A4 indoor power conferences in seven different sports.
▶ 0:37:41ranked number 18 out of 31 in net rankings in the sport of men's basketball. Three notable all-Americans in volleyball, men's and women's track and field. Former UNCC Asheville men's tennis player and threetime student athlete player of the year Henry Patton won the 2025 Australia Open men's double in January of 2025 and won the 2024 Wilmington doubles championship of 2024.
▶ 0:38:07For the last two decades, the Big South Conference has annually sponsored a leadership conference, which I'm proud to say I am an alum of that 60 student athletes are able to come and focus on their development as people. As you can see, we are committed to developing the next generation of leaders through meaningful and yet transformational student athlete experiences. Yet, very few, if any, of our student athletes receive the level of NIL that makes headlines. None of our programs generate a large sum of revenue.
▶ 0:38:36All of them depend on the assistance of institutional support to fill those competitive 19 programs we just spoke about. The experience of our members and student athletes is the norm for the majority of student athletes who compete at the division one level across the United States. One thing we all can agree on is that the college college athletic landscape is that for Big South member institutions and similar institutions to continue to providing life-changing experiences, clarity and stability is essential.
▶ 0:39:05In the last two years, the NCAA and its member institutions have evolved and adopted warranted enhancements focused on meeting the needs of our student athletes, establishing the core guarantees that I know you all are familiar with. Despite the positive and impactful change made thus far, there are areas that can only be addressed with the leadership of Congress. Those areas are affirming student athletes are not employees, providing safe harbor from select liability complaints, and preempt state law.
▶ 0:39:34As previously noted, significant process has been made surrounding the evolution of athletics, but we are not done. As chairman Bill Rocka's opening statement, as he stated in his opening statement of the March 4th, 2025 moving the goalpost, how NIL is shaping college athletics, the absence of preeminitive uniform standard has led to a wild west environment here where sadly our student athletes are put into a vulnerable position where they can easily be exploited by those who do not have their best interest in mind.
▶ 0:40:04As a former student athlete and current commissioner, I want to enable our student athletes to succeed on the field, in the classroom, and financially. We appreciate the introduction of SCORE Act 2025 and commend your aim to bring federal clarity to NIL frameworks. I look forward to working with each member of the committee to ensure that schools such as those in the Big South are able to continue to compete and thrive.
▶ 0:40:30Thank you for your visionary leadership and consideration of legislation to ensure student athletes are winning on and off the field for generations to come. Thank you. Thank you so very much. Appreciate it. Now we'll ask Mr. Humea uh you're recognized sir for your five minutes. Good morning. And first I'd like to thank chairman G3 and Bill Rockus and ranking members Palon and Shicowski for inviting me to testify today. My name is Ramogi Huma.
▶ 0:40:58I'm a former UCLA football player and executive director of the NCPA, the National College Players Association. The NCPA has served as a primary advocate in support of NIL laws in over a dozen states and has helped craft state and federal bills seeking broad-based reform. The NCPA is opposed to the score act. College sports is in crisis, but it's not because of NIO collectives and transfer portals. College sports is in crisis because NCA sports is a predatory industry that exploits college athletes physically, sexually, and economically.
▶ 0:41:27The NCAA and conferences refuse to enforce safety standards or impose any consequences for athletic personnel who kill an athlete in a hazardous workout, sexually abuse an athlete, or force an athlete with a concussion back into the same game. Just ask the parents of Calvin Dicki Jr. and Jordan McNair, football players who died preventable deaths at Bucknell University and the University of Maryland, or former San Jose State gymnast AmyLair, who along with her teammates survived sexual abuse from their athletic trainer.
▶ 0:41:55In surveys, division one athletic trainers report about 20% of coaches return athletes to play who are deemed medically ineligible. And more than one in four college athletes report being sexually assaulted or harassed by a campus authority figure. The NCP is advocating that Congress refrain passing any federal legislation that does not mandate the enforcement of safety standards by a third party and other key protections. The score act does not address these critical issues and is instead modeled heavily after the unjust House versus NCA settlement.
▶ 0:42:25The SCORE Act would exclude college athletes from equal rights under antirust and labor law. This would prevent unionization which could otherwise help bring forth key safety protections. The SCORE Act would give the NCA power to ban all athlete pay from colleges. If pay was allowed, it would be optional and the score act would directly impose a low athlete compensation cap of 22% instead of the 48 to 50% of guaranteed revenue proathletes earn thanks to their unions.
▶ 0:42:53The score acts 22% cap would yield different maximum con compensation amounts from one school to the next. The total athlete payouts could be a max could max out at $10 million at Virginia, but $15 million at North Carolina and $20 million at Florida State, for example. Athletes have no way of knowing whether their pay from a university would exceed the compensation limit, which could subject all athletes to that team on that team to punishments.
▶ 0:43:18The score act would permanently eliminate about $2 billion in athlete NIL pay by gutting NIL collectives, which are booster funded organizations that are labeled associated entities in the SCORE Act. The score act would allow universities to prohibit athlete pay conducting conducted during athletes free time if dictated by a school's contract. The score act would allow the NCA and conferences to continue to eliminate athlete roster spots and cut entire Olympic sports.
▶ 0:43:46The score act would give the NCA absolute power to eliminate all transfer freedoms even when athletes are being abused. The score act is silent on its application of private equity firms if they ultimately operate athletic programs or replace an athletic association. And notably, the athlete compensation and benefits included in the score act are not a net gain for athletes because these provisions already exist under state NIL laws and NCAA rules.
▶ 0:44:12The score act gives athletes no recourse if a university conference or the NCA breaks the law at the athletes expense. And just to be clear, the current language in the score act would would hurt college athletes, not help them. Much of this bill chases the myth of creating a level playing field among college athlete athletic programs. And the truth is that there's never been a level playing field. Rich programs and boosters have always spent money to give their athletic programs a competitive advantage.
▶ 0:44:37If a level playing field was a goal, the bill would cap coaches salaries and require schools to share revenue evenly amongst themselves. Instead, the score act allows the same rich athletic programs and boosters to keep competitive advantages by spending unlimited amounts of money on coaches, recruiting budgets, and lavish facilities.
▶ 0:44:55To gain competitive advantage, rich athletic programs and conferences are ruthlessly poaching the most valuable athletic programs from less prominent conferences to gain higher TV revenue and continue their Congress shouldn't pass legislation to deny college athletes billions of dollars so that the NCA and conferences can pretend a level playing field exists. Finally, the NCPA is supportive of a transfer structure that's less chaotic.
▶ 0:45:20We point out that the athletes didn't adopt unlimited transfer freedoms and schedule transfer portals in the middle of the football postseason and spring football. The NCAA did. I look forward to your questions. Thank you. Gentleman yields back. Uh now I'll recognize Mr. King for your five minutes testimony. Thank you again for being here.
▶ 0:45:45Good morning, Chair Bill Rockus, Chair Guthrie, Ranking Member Shakowski, and Ranking Member Palone, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. On behalf of the Southeastern Conference and it 16 members, thank you for the opportunity to share my views on these important issues in college athletics today. My name is William King. I'm associate commissioner for legal affairs and compliance at the Southeastern Conference.
▶ 0:46:07Prior to joining the SEC nearly 10 years ago, I spent 25 years in private law practice where I specialized in representing universities, coaches, and occasionally student athletes in NCAA infractions matters. I represented universities throughout the country, often working to help athletes stay or get back on the field or court to play their sports.
▶ 0:46:30Over the past year, I have spent most of my time working with my colleagues to be prepared to successfully implement the exceptional changes in college sports reflected in the House versus NCAA settlement, which includes a new revenue share model between institutions and their student athletes. This implementation must be done in a manner that preserves the attributes that make college sports such a unique and special part of American culture.
▶ 0:46:59My one remaining professional goal is to help create a solution that provides stability for college sports, treats all college athletes fairly, and allow schools to continue to sponsor a broad range of sports that create opportunities for athletes to earn college degrees when otherwise they might not have attended college. The timing for this hearing is especially good after the court's approval of the House settlement on Friday night.
▶ 0:47:28As the court's decision helps frame the issues for discussion today, I will focus in these remarks on why congressional action is needed now more than ever after the settlement approval to provide stability for the future of college sports. Federal legislation is needed to codify the key elements of the settlement. That's revenue sharing with student athletes and reasonable NIL regulation.
▶ 0:47:53These key tenants are needed in federal legislation because they are not included in and could not be achieved in the House settlement agreement. Only Congress can do those do that. First, we need preeemption of state laws governing name, image, and likeness and compensation of college athletes.
▶ 0:48:10The current environment in state legislatores has devolved into competitive lawmaking intended to give universities in a particular state meaningful advantages in recruiting and competition and in some states even prevent enforcement of national rules related to name, image and likeness. We need a federal law that creates a uniform national standard with meaningful enforcement and preempt state laws that conflict with the federal law. Next, we need liability protection or safe harbor for conduct that complies with the federal law.
▶ 0:48:40We do not seek broad antitrust exemption or blanket antitrust immunity. What we seek is more limited than that, protection from lawsuits that challenge conduct and regulations that are consistent with or codified in a federal law passed by Congress. Third, Congress needs to address the issue of college athletes as employees. The SEC athletes we speak with, we have four leadership councils. They tell us they do not want to become employees of their universities.
▶ 0:49:08Putting aside their views, which should not be put aside, the financial impact of employee status for college athletes would be devastating and force many division one schools to abandon athletics altogether. While those with greater resources would likely reduce the number of sports they offer or otherwise alter the student athlete we're the only country in the world where elite athletes do not have to choose between education and their sports, but instead can use their athletics ability to receive
▶ 0:49:38a college education for free while pursuing their athletic goals at the same time. College athletics programs are the Olympic development program for many sports and the United States Olympic development model is the envy of many countries. I am concerned this system is at risk if Congress does not act.
▶ 0:49:58Now that the settlement has been approved and the transformative model for college athlet athletics is being implemented even as we meet today, there will never be a better opportunity for Congress to act to provide the structure and stability to ensure the future of college athletics. Thank you for the opportunity to share my views on these topics and I look forward to a productive discussion today. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. King. Appreciate it very much. Uh next we have Miss Kad. Uh, you're recognized for five minutes for your opening statement.
▶ 0:50:29Good morning, Chairman Billis, Ranking Member Shakowski, and distinguished subcommittee members. My name is Ashley Kad. I am a former swimming student athlete at the University of North Florida, more simply known as UNF. As a freshman walk-on, I was hopeful of proving myself to my coaches and peers in and out of the pool.
▶ 0:50:52Over the course of the five years that I attended UNF, I earned three degrees in athletic scholarship and held numerous leadership positions and advocacy roles. As a freshman, I quickly became involved with the student athlete advisory committee or SAC and held numerous positions at the institutional, conference, and national level. I was nominated in June of 2022 to serve as the Atlantic Sun Conference Division 1 SAC representative.
▶ 0:51:21After two years of service, I was elected chair of the Division One group for a one-year term. Serving as the collective voice for over 190,000 Division One student athletes changed my perspective on the importance of advocacy and sharing individual stories.
▶ 0:51:38Being one of two student athletes that served on the NCAA Division 1 board of directors, I understood how important it was to share both my own perspective in addition to the thoughts and concerns of the student athletes I represent around this nation. Throughout this experience, two continual issues always resurfaced in my conversations. Name, image, and likeness or NIL and employment.
▶ 0:52:05In July of 2021, the NCAA removed their bylaws regulating NIL and ultimately gave student athletes the right to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness. While it is evident that NIL has had positive impacts on student athletes, the lack of transparency and the lack of uniform regulation due to differing state laws has created an unstable environment.
▶ 0:52:31In the process of writing my testimony, the House verse NCA settlement received final approval. This approval will positively change college athletics in numerous areas, including NIL. In addition to allowing schools the option to direct new financial benefits to student athletes, part of the agreement of the settlement is the NIL clearing house. Student athletes will be required to report any NIL deal and or earnings over $600 to the clearing house.
▶ 0:53:01This will create much needed transparency for institutions and student athletes across division one. However, the hodgepodge of state laws remains a nightmare for student athletes who are often unsure of what rules apply where and to whom.
▶ 0:53:17It is imperative that Congress take action to establish federal guidelines surrounding NIL so that student athletes are on the same playing field across institutions over state lines as to diminish the confusion and competitive advantages created by conflicting state laws. While student athletes are capitalizing on their NIL, the conversation surrounding employment status is routinely discussed.
▶ 0:53:44While classifying student athletes as employees may seem logical because of the time we pour into our sports, it would be incredibly detrimental for the majority of student athletes. Most institutions would not be able to afford an employee model and would only have the funds to sponsor a football or basketball team. This model would decimate opportunities for athletes like me and thousands of others throughout the country.
▶ 0:54:10Congressional action to affirm the non-employee status is vital for preserving the collegiate model and guaranteeing a future for Olympic and non-revenue generating sports. We have entered a new era of collegiate athletics whereby student athletes can benefit from both NIL and revenue sharing from their institutions.
▶ 0:54:31These opportunities have both transformed and are continuing to transform the landscape of college sports for the benefits of student Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify before you today. I am hopeful that through continuous conversations and collaboration, we can create an environment where student athletes will not only compete but Thank you, Miss Kak. Appreciate it very much.
▶ 0:54:59Uh, I want to thank all the uh all the witnesses today for their testimony and I'll begin questioning and recognize myself for five minutes. Uh, Mr. King, I'd like to start with you. Over the last several years, we've seen the pendulum swing dramatically when it comes to the transfer portal.
▶ 0:55:18What began as a mechanism to give student athletes more flexibility and control over their futures has in many cases created instability both academically and athletically. Does the score act help provide stability to the transfer portal?
▶ 0:55:37And should we consider including a one-time unrestricted again I want to emphasize unrestricted transfer rule or other rules in federal Thank you Chair Billus and you you certainly picked a timely issue to start with u and your description I I would agree with um as to to the current environment.
▶ 0:56:04Um we where the NCAA is now is it is unable to regulate this space. There are unlimited transfers. Um some athletes you're seeing transfer three four times. Talk about the educational consequences later. Let's just talk about the competitive first. Uh we need the ability to regulate in this area. Uh your suggestion of a one-time exception.
▶ 0:56:29uh that's where uh the the the NCAA approach was prior to a court injunction that enjoined the rule and and opened the door for unlimited transfers. I think that is a a good part a good place to start the conversation. I agree with you. Um the the in addition to creating a system where there is greater stability in the system where uh athletes know who their teammates are going to be and it's not a a constant turnover semester after semester.
▶ 0:56:59There's definitely an educational component that sometimes is left out of the conversation. Uh we know statistically that transfers, especially multiple transfers, are less likely will take longer to graduate. And what we've heard I've heard directly from athletes myself is they go in the portal, they transfer, and only after they're at their new school do they find out that many of their credits did not go with them. And that's that also is, you know, is a setback from a standpoint of the ultimate goal of earning a degree. Thank you very much.
▶ 0:57:28Uh, Miss the score act has a section codifying core guarantees which include protections for scholarships and post eligibility degree comp uh completion. How does this give student athletes across all sports programs more stability and assurance uh as they com complete their degrees? Thank you so much. I think it does exactly that.
▶ 0:57:58It provides that guarantee. Student athletes are no longer looking to see is this an NCAA policy? Is this a state law? Where does this assurance come from? So being able to codify that I do think will assist student athletes and knowing that it is exactly that. It's a core guarantee. I think furthermore, making sure the student athletes are one informed and they're educated. I think that that's one of the issues as Mr.
▶ 0:58:21King just alluded to the burden that is placed on student athletes currently of not knowing where information is coming from, if it is coming, is it legit, is it accurate. So I think the cotification of the already existing and adopted core guarantees will only provide that additional insurance and assurance for student athletes. Thank you.
▶ 0:58:41Uh, Miss Koad, as a student athlete in a nonrevenue sport like swimming, you have an important viewpoint to our hearing and thank you so very much for your testimony. Uh, much of the national NIL conversation has focused around football and basketball as you know, but athletes like you are very much affected.
▶ 0:59:04Can you speak on how NIL opportunities and guard rails in the score act can support student athletes in sports like yours? Thank you for your question. I think guard rails that are level across all sports are imperative especially when it comes to educating student athletes. Oftentimes we all receive the same education and it just when you talk to one student athlete versus another, one says one rule, one says another. that just creates more confusion across the board.
▶ 0:59:34So having the level playing field would benefit all student athletes so that we know what the rules are whether we're in the state of Florida, the state of Georgia, wherever it may be. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh well, you know what? I've got 25 seconds left. Uh is there anything else anyone wants to add uh with regard to that? I I will tell you uh you know, we want to emphasize we want to protect the Olympic sports and swimming is definitely one of them. So uh uh is anyone else want to make a comment yet briefly?
▶ 1:00:04Sir, I think that's one area we all agree in and it needs to be put in the in the law. You know, the the power of schools do the settlement are cutting the sports, not not preserving them. So that I think that's an area agreement we should all be able to support. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Uh all right, I'll yield back and I'll recognize the ranking member of the subcommittee, Miss Shakowski, for her five minutes. I want to thank the witnesses for being here.
▶ 1:00:31We are talking about the uh a piece of legislation um that I have a lot of concern about um because I don't think it catches what I feel most about. Um so the score act I think is um certainly just the beginning.
▶ 1:00:53Um, and I want to um re uh say once again that the health and safety of the athletes is number one to to me and that seems to me to call on us to do something to make sure that we really do protect our our athletes. Um, and so Mr.
▶ 1:01:19Suma, I wanted to ask you what you think we should be doing to make sure that we protect our our students. Well, thank you very much for that question and your concern and and uh all that you've done for college athletes and advocated for over the last uh number of years. Um, you know, the NCA's position is that it has no duty to protect college athletes.
▶ 1:01:44You know, if you talk to the parents whose kids either die or abused, they're shocked that NCA sports does not enforce safety standards. So, if they don't do it, who does? And from our perspective, these are institutions that receive federal funds. Obviously, a matter of public policy. Uh we need a referee. We need a third party. Congress can can do that. Um and I'd say, you know, we fought very hard for every avenue of protection for athletes, whether it be avenue towards collective bargaining even.
▶ 1:02:12Um, but there are athletes that would not necessarily have the same leverage even if they wanted to start a union, right? You have athletes dying in community colleges, uh, NIA, you know, all all different levels of schools. So, they need protections, too. And it doesn't cost money to not kill someone in a hazardous workout. It cost it takes accountability. It takes people following the rules. So, Congress, uh, what we advocate for is to ensure that safety standards, which are above, they're abundant.
▶ 1:02:41You know, the pro leagues have safety standards, the National Athletic Trainers Association, even the NCA has great guidelines, none of which are enforced on the college level. We need a mandate that these standards are identified and enforced by a third party because right now you have a bunch of guidelines. The NCA says, "Hey, um, well, our schools self police." And the schools, there's no accountability. So the athletic trainers, the coaches, they're really uninformed. Um, and that's and that can create deadly situations.
▶ 1:03:09So, uh, self-p policing is a recipe for disaster and and we don't want to see that. So, Congress definitely has a role to play. So, do you think there has to be something universal that should be brought into the Congress and into law? Absolutely. For instance, concussion protocols that should be at every level from community colleges up to the top. uh preventing heat illness, death from heat illness, rabdomiolysis. There are simple solutions. There's just a lot of uh uninformed people.
▶ 1:03:39Um and and and so we don't want to see more deaths. This this is something that you know when organization started um that very year back in 2001, there were three deaths in college football. Um and actually, as I look at you too, ironically, um Northwestern in Illinois and two in Florida, Florida and Florida State, all within the same year. Um, a few months later, I testified in this very committee asking Congress to do something. Um, and that didn't happen. A few years ago, I asked for this very committee for Congress to do something. That didn't happen.
▶ 1:04:06And since then, and I mentioned Calvin Dicki Jr., he died after all of the, you know, information was was out there. So, a lack of action from Congress will guarantee more deaths. Calvin Dicki Jr. could be alive today if Congress would have acted. And that's those are the stakes. So, let me ask one more question. Uh, Mr.
▶ 1:04:26Huma, do you think that athletes should be able to um sue um in any case the NCA um when there are situations? Absolutely. Uh liability exemption, you know, uh that's that's kind of described in this bill is is a detriment to athletes. Um being able to sue does a number of things. One, it can um provide recourse.
▶ 1:04:54Some of these athletes have uh lifelong injuries. You know, a loss of a family member is irreplaceable. Um but it also works to be punitive as a deterrent as well. And in some cases, like in the Dicki case and and several others, the schools won't even give information about a child's death to the schools without signing an NDA. Um the Dickies have said that um even after signing the NDA that they still don't have information. So suing gives you the ability to have discovery and subpoena power and get information.
▶ 1:05:24uh critical for as a parent or a surviving family member that you have um to be able to make try to make sense of something great to my time is up. I yield back. Thank you for your testimony. I thank uh the gentle lady. Now I yield uh five minutes to Miss Harshburgger who's wearing her Tennessee orange today. Yes. Uh and I'll yield you five minutes for questioning. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to the witnesses for being here today. Uh, you got to represent if you're SEC.
▶ 1:05:54So, that's what I'm doing. Um, I'll start with you, Mr. King. Uh, you hear stories about shady agents, uh, pretending to be college athletes on the phone or cases where star quarterbacks get bad advice, they lose out on great NIL deals. How do you see agent registration changing the landscape for college uh, athletes?
▶ 1:06:17Thank you for the question and it's uh it is an area that I hear anecdotally from our campuses uh that when they um from time to time see a contract that an athlete will share with them and ask for their input some u pretty unscrupulous practices trying to take the agents trying to take advantage. So absolutely I agree that this is an area where regulation is needed. Uh the discussion draft you know provides for that.
▶ 1:06:45Um the real solution however lies in the process for discipline and consequences to encourage agents to not even engage in that cont conduct to begin with to not take advantage and then I think it as part of registration process. I think it in the past it has been difficult but to have meaningful criteria that must be met.
▶ 1:07:10Not not not to not too much but that some general showing of aptitude to represent athletes in these matters and uh and then when they take advantage of them to have very meaningful penalties. Okay. Thank you sir. Miss Montgomery um I read that judge Wilkins said herself that the house settlement still open to antirust issues.
▶ 1:07:32Do you anticipate that colleges and universities could be subject uh the subject of such lawsuits and do you think there's room for liability protections for schools as well? Thank you so much for the question. Um you're exactly right. Even with a house settlement being recently approved not only um well not even a week ago tomorrow we've already seen uh some concerns that have been voiced with regards to challenging some of the aspects. uh one specifically is title nine which we know that that's an area continue to be of concern.
▶ 1:08:02Um absolutely albeit I think it goes back to not complete uh liability protections but there are some areas that I think would be appropriate so that the NCAA its member institutions as a national organization has an opportunity to not only create but enforce rules to not prohibit or restrict student athletes but more so to protect. But to answer your question in short, I do see that there will continue to be some areas of liability and or litigation. Very good.
▶ 1:08:30Um, I'm going to continue with you, ma'am. Uh, as a former student athlete and now commissioner of the Big South Conference, you go, girl. Okay. Thank you. I'd love to know your thoughts on the future of these agreements between schools and student athletes, and do you think these um revenue sharing agreements will bring stability to college uh athletic rosters? Yes, and thank you for the question again. I do think that it will bring a level of stability.
▶ 1:08:55Um that is one of the reasons and specifically member institutions of the Big South Conference, not all nine of us are opting in to those opportunities for various reasons. But of the four who have decided to opt in thus far, that's one of the primary reasons. It's being able to bring in some of those collective actions, some of those opportunities that we've seen previously in house to make sure there is no nefarious activity going on. student athletes aren't being promised things that an institution will not be able to commit to.
▶ 1:09:23Um so I think with contracts and with more institution and student athlete engagements and agreement there will bring a level of stability. Okay. Um you talked about Title N. Uh it doesn't appear the legislation addresses the topic of Title N. Aren't there uh pending or expected title N lawsuits related to the topic of NIL? And should Congress address these questions as we develop a national solution? Yes.
▶ 1:09:50As a former women's basketball student athlete who I've benefited tremendously from Title Nine, I think this is an area that we as leaders both within our association as well as the leaders of Congress should continue to give a significant amount of attention to. Um, obviously we're only a week out, so there's still a lot of questions about the application and the implications of Title 9, but I would 100% support continued attention given to this area. Thank you, ma'am. Uh, Mr. King, I've got about 30 seconds left.
▶ 1:10:19Can you talk to us about the financial viability of SEC athletic programs and the difference between revenue and non-revenue programs? Absolutely. Um so generally speaking there are two sports that generate the vast majority of the revenue. No surprise there. Football and men's basketball. Yeah.
▶ 1:10:40Um and that the funds from those sports are used to to support the other sports and um and in our conference. Now obviously we are fortunate to be in the position that we're in.
▶ 1:10:56Uh but I hear regularly from our people on campus just how difficult it is to to try to make everything work in this current environment in the in many ways unregulated and that with the additional expenses from the settlement which we're very glad the settlement was approved. Look forward to implementing it. that job will become even more difficult.
▶ 1:11:19And we we've already alluded to this that there uh have been and will be difficult decisions to make uh if we are unable to get some certainty in some areas through federal legislation, those those decisions will will uh expand and be even more difficult. Okay. Thank you, sir. My time is up, so I'll yield back. Thank you. Appreciate it very much. Now, I'll yield five minutes to Mr. Stoodto from the great state of Florida. You're recognized, sir. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 1:11:48Chairman, and it's a great time to congratulate the Gators once again on a basketball national championship. We know we uh as Americans love college sports. That's why we're here. That's why we're all so passionate about this. Um we also know it's a huge business, which is why in Austin v. the NCAA uh no one was surprised that there was a unanimous decision regarding antitrust and making sure that students have economic rights.
▶ 1:12:16Um that the financial straight jacket is is lifted. We also see in all major professional sports leagues they have players unions. U all Americans have a first amendment right to form a union. All Americans also have a right to representation by an agent. Uh and our college athletes deserve those same rights. Mr. Chairman, would you mind since it's a discussion draft yielding to a question about college players unions? I just because there there's not a lot of information in the in section 8.
▶ 1:12:45Does this discussion draft ban college players unions or does it just simply regulate them? This particular uh discussion draft does not we don't have jurisdiction. Uh so this is clearly ENC jurisdiction as far as this draft is concerned. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, just because it's kind of general in section 8 right now. And uh and then the only other question, does it regulate transfer portal in any way?
▶ 1:13:12I I didn't see anything in there, but I've heard some of the witnesses talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, at this particular time, it allows uh the the creation of rules with regard to transfer portals. I have some suggestions and I'd be happy to talk to you about that as well, Mr. I'm sure we all have opinions about the transfer portal. That's not a shock. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding. That was very helpful. Mr.
▶ 1:13:38Humea, uh you had mentioned in your testimony you thought that u because it exempts from labor laws uh our college sports that it would um violate unions. Can you go into that or prevent unions? Can you go into that a little more even though some of that may be beyond the committee's jurisdiction? Sure. So, the draft um states that college athletes would not be defined as employees under any federal law.
▶ 1:14:07That in that includes the National Labor Relations Act. That's a federal law and the right to organize falls under that law. So, if college athletes are not employees under any federal law, that would that would capture um the National Labor Relations Act as well. Therefore, they would have no rights to organize or collectively bargain. And so even beyond that, they may have there still might be a first amendment issue with this legislation because the right to unionize is protected by the first amendment. So what what could that mean as far as trying to resolve this issue?
▶ 1:14:38Well, I think um in general, honestly, college athletes deserve equal rights under the law. We're not asking for favors from Congress. We're just asking that Congress allow athletes to have equal rights. Um and we believe that currently college athletes would qualify uh depending on their situation. We focused our organization football and basketball in our opinion clearly fall under the national labor relations act right to organize. They would be employees and they have the right to organize.
▶ 1:15:04Um so in a sense you know our northstar is to ensure that college athletes are treated equally under the law the same law that governs every other American including labor law. And we're all concerned about safety. We heard our ranking member talk about that as well as uh a lot of other college leagues that aren't the big revenue makers but are absolutely essential uh to to college sports.
▶ 1:15:28What do you think are some of the ways we can protect some of the uh beyond college football and men's and women's basketball uh some of the other sports that are so important for college life? It's going to take Congress. It's going to take a mandate from Congress. You know, we've uh had a lot of experience going stateto state trying health and safety, trying NIL. NIL catches on. The economics always catch on. The states love to compete. Um but unfortunately, when it comes to health and safety standards, they don't compete.
▶ 1:15:56And recruits aren't very aware about the differences in life and death situations um and what it would mean from stateto state. That's going to take Congress. And athletes from community college on up, from non-revenue sports to revenue sports, they all deserve the same Miss Ked, welcome. We're always happy to have a Flidian here. There's a lot of us on this committee. Uh how important is it for you that we make sure there is some revenue sharing so all these sports that are currently in existence get to continue onward?
▶ 1:16:25Thank you for your question. It is so important because if we go to an employee model, I wouldn't be here. There would not be any more non-revenue generating sports. the protections surrounding Olympic sports would be we need protections for Olympic sports. You would not see NCAA college athletes representing us for Team USA. So, it is imperative. Thank you. Well, thanks so much. I appreciate it. I yield back. Thank gentlemen yields back.
▶ 1:16:55And now I recognize Mr. Fry from the great state of South Carolina. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to the witnesses for being here. You know, I'm I'm struck obviously with the NCAA versus House settlement. I mean, uh I think that clarifies certain things, but I think it also leaves uh intentionally vague the future of college sports and where we're going to go. Uh what we've seen uh throughout the country are states carving out specific protections for their instate schools.
▶ 1:17:22Uh and as our student athlete has talked about, it becomes an untenable situation, an unmanageable situation on how we go about governing or playing college sports when you don't know the legal framework with a 50-state patchwork of laws. Uh and so Congress, I think, has a authority here. I also worry a little bit too about how much that authority Um there's a framework, I think, that Congress has a role in.
▶ 1:17:50Uh but do we go do we uh do we go too far? Uh I think those are questions that I still have in my mind uh both about this um and uh this discussion draft and and also you know Congress's role in this. Uh you don't want to go too far and make and and and create more problems uh than you solve. Uh but I think we're on the right track. I think uh this committee I think the judiciary committee has a unique role here and of course Ed and labor as well. Uh Mr.
▶ 1:18:21King I want to discuss just briefly the uh the settlement in the in the litigation. You know the NCAA and conferences um you know have that ability to govern college athletes but it's been diminished. Um you can't create rules, you can't enforce the rules that you create. Uh we have heard the term wild west uh a lot by uh folks at this table and in other hearings too.
▶ 1:18:44Uh can you explain the SEC's ability to regulate and govern its member institutions uh particularly on matters related to NIL just briefly? Thank you for the question and I guess we'll kind of start where you started is that that there needs to that in order to have national competitions you need to have uniform standards nationally and as a reminder name image and likeness started in state legislatores.
▶ 1:19:14It did not start with an NCAA rule. um uh the NGO rule rules had prohibited before then state legislators got involved and once it became a state law question rather than a governing association question then the the ability to to govern nationally obviously is impacted and as we've seen the state lawmaking in this area in particular has become a competitive endeavor where it's some call it a race to the bottom with each state legislature
▶ 1:19:44trying to give its universities um uh some type of leg up. So it has this approach has uh has severely limited the ability of anyone to regulate including the SEC and is highlighted the need for preeemption and you mentioned the house settlement.
▶ 1:20:06The fact that there is a structure coming out of this settlement that was uh negotiated by the leading plaintist antitrust lawyers in the nation was approved by the court is fair, reasonable and adequate that provides revenue share of 22% of certain revenues uh on a national average which would be over $20 million per year in year one and it'll go up every year. Mr. King, and I hate to I'm I'm going to cut you I've got a ton of questions here, so I want to bounce around if that's okay.
▶ 1:20:36Uh, Mr. Hume, you brought a case uh to the NLRB on behalf of USC football players um to have them deemed employees, but you quickly withdrew that uh case possibly uh because of a change in administrations. So, I'm curious a little bit. Do you now agree that the best uh and you've said that that some of the things uh within the the House lawsuit? Do you agree that some of those uh uh from that settlement it is it is it important to codify some of those settlement terms in a future bill?
▶ 1:21:07Uh yes and and thanks for that question. Actually, it's also through the lens of state laws. Well, let me ask you this too. So, I'm a little bit perplexed because you also called the settlement terrible um despite it including things that you've long advocated for. So, um like revenue sharing and extended health benefits. So, I'm a little bit concerned. I mean, is this just about unionization? I mean, is this ultimately what your goal is? Because we've heard from our student athlete today, but we've also heard from several other student athletes, they don't want employee status and they don't want unionization.
▶ 1:21:37So, why are you pushing something that student athletes don't want? So, the settlement in terms through the lens of the state law, the settlement actually um reduces freedoms for athletes. It imposes caps on direct compensation. The state laws already, many states allow that already. The steps that are good about the settlement is the NCA admitted college athletes should be paid and schools admitted they should be paid. That was what we were referring to.
▶ 1:22:00The state laws are really important to hold the door open whereas the settlement tries to shut the door on NIL collectives $2 billion and cap at a low percentage optional uh compensation paid to pay to college athletes. And that's those are some of the reasons why we oppose the settlement including cutting 5,000 rosters across division one sports. Thank you. I see my time is unfortunately expired because I have a ton more questions. But Mr.
▶ 1:22:22Chairman, uh, thank you for the time and and I do hope that as we discuss the discussion draft, uh, and as we move forward between all three committees of jurisdiction that that we're inclusive of members, that we're making sure that Congress is taking the right approach, that we're not overreacting to a problem, uh, and that we uh, have significant buyin from from all the members that serve on all the different committees. But I appreciate that and I yield back. Agreed. The gentleman yields back. Now we'll ask uh Mr.
▶ 1:22:51Mullen to go ahead and proceed with this five minutes of questioning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today. There is no denying that the college sports landscape is shifting rapidly. The amount of money flowing through this ecosystem from media deals to NIL agreements is staggering. But for all the talk about stabilizing the system, I think we should be asking stabilizing for whom?
▶ 1:23:17Because from where I sit, a lot of what's happening right now, conference realignments, rush rule changes, and patchwork policies seems to prioritize institutions and revenue over the athletes themselves. We've seen conferences chase bigger media deals at the expense of athletes who now have to fly across the country just to compete in a conference game. That may make sense on a spreadsheet, but does it make sense for a 19-year-old balancing practice, travel, and a full course load?
▶ 1:23:46I'm concerned that the score act uh as drafted proposes a framework that is more focused on regulatory certainty for schools than on protections for college athletes. It caps how much athletes can earn, carves them out of labor protections, gives broad enforcement powers to the NCAA, the athletic conferences, and this new college sports commission that has been created to administer the financial parts of the recent settlement.
▶ 1:24:11but it doesn't include clear enforcable standards when it comes to health care safety or operational fairness and transparency. So my question uh Mr. Humea in your testimony you point to several real risk athletes face medical bills for example after injuries uh lack of recourse and abusive situations and a little protection when bad actors uh enter the picture. So, what tools do athletes currently have to protect themselves when things go wrong?
▶ 1:24:40And would the score act take any of those things away uh or give athletes due process in such instances? Uh well, thank you for that question. The score act does nothing to advance uh athletes positions in those situations. There's no enforcement whatsoever. And I think the enforcement of anything that Congress looks at to protect athletes, there needs to be third party enforcement. Um, you have I've h helped athletes in situations where um, their schools were supposed to provide medical coverage.
▶ 1:25:09They're still stuck with the bill, but they have the athletes behind closed doors. There's a big power dynamic, right? And they're dangling their scholarship and telling them to look the other way. Or if they're trying to medically retire, but the schools are putting extra conditions on them um, and um, you know, that aren't supposed to be allowable. And you have, you know, right now, even the broader sense, this whole settlement, we have, we mentioned the state NIO laws. Just taking the big 10 alone, 10 of the schools fall under states with NI laws that don't even allow their schools to comply with the house settlement.
▶ 1:25:40It would be break, they would be breaking their own state law. And now you have conferences trying to strongarm the schools to force them to break state NIL laws. It's been reported throughout the media to break the law. So if they're willing to break the law of state lawmakers, we, you know, Congress needs to consider who they're who they're dealing with. They're dealing with schools and conferences that are incre increasingly engaging in lawless activities.
▶ 1:26:02So there needs to be very sound enforcement from a third party, not the schools, not the Thank you for that. So the the score act includes a requirement that agents uh register with athletic associations, but a name on a list doesn't necessarily protect a student from predatory contract or bad actor with hidden conflicts of interest. Similarly, while the college sports commission created by the House settlement will monitor NIL deals.
▶ 1:26:29It's not set up to protect students from predatory practices. If we're serious about protecting these young athletes, especially those with little support at home, we need to do more than just track who's in the room or how much the deal is worth. We need to make sure someone is looking out for the athletes. So, uh, with my minute left here, Mr. Humea, what kinds of guard rails should Congress be thinking about to ensure college athletes aren't being pressured or misled by the people around them? Well, I think there's definitely a need for an agent certification program.
▶ 1:26:59Congress can do that. Um, it needs to be completely independent from the NCAA. the conferences and the colleges. Um those are the very entities that never wanted athletes to have agents in the first place. And under the house settlement um kind of enshrines a complete conflict conflict of interest that allows the schools to serve as exclusive agents for the athletes if you can believe it. So the athletes are supposed to negotiate with schools NIL deals yet the schools can pressure the athletes into granting them um you know the power to be the exclusive agent.
▶ 1:27:29So you can see where that goes. huge conflicts of interest. Needs to be a third party. Um, similar to the the NFLPA, NFL, you know, the MBPA, they certify agents um because they have the best interest of the athletes um and not so much the leagues. Appreciate that, sir. With that, I'll yield back. Gentleman yields back. And now I'll recognize Mr. Goldman for his five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to all the panelists here today.
▶ 1:27:59Um, Miss Montgomery, thank you for your um very uh good testimony. Uh, I'm interested in digging a little deeper in the Big South. Um, how many of your student athletes received NIL money? I would say this past academic year out of our 3,400, I would say maybe five to six00 student athletes in some level of NIL opportunities. Do you know what the largest NIL payment was?
▶ 1:28:27And this is aneidcotical, but I would say around the 17 to 18,000. 17 or 18,000 to play. Um, and was that only in football, I assume? Uh, specifically basketball. The Big South. Yes, Big South Conference. We do have two football member playing institutions. We're in a great partnership with Ohio Valley Conference. U, but basketball would be the sport I am alluding to. Okay. So, several hundred students receiving thousands of dollars to play basketball.
▶ 1:28:56And so, NCAA has oversight over y'all. Correct. What What service do they provide? What does the NCA do for the Big South? So, following student athletes being able to receive a name, image, and likeness opportunities, the education obviously was there. Um, information as it relates to student athletes being informed. I think the NCAA does a really good job of supporting that. Uh from a conference perspective, we do the best that we can, but as we know, student athletes receive information differently.
▶ 1:29:25Um also from an engagement perspective, obviously that's something that is continuous on the dockets and the agendas of commissioners um and industry leaders. But I would say for the most part, it is definitely the education piece. When you played, did you receive NIO money? I did not. What did you receive? I received um a full scholarship. Um great education, huh? I did see or a great education. Um but I will say I was a transfer student athlete.
▶ 1:29:52So when I was at the University of Memphis, um I did receive what I'll call additional benefits outside um of my scholarship and this was just a part of our our package if you will. But when I came to Gardener Webb University, that was a slight difference, but it was essentially my scholarship. So you were in the portal before the portal was Do we have time for that? Um, I say that respectfully, uh, and I just won't go down a rabbit hole, but when I transferred, that was essentially my foot into the door of NCAA.
▶ 1:30:21I could not believe for the life of me as a women's basketball student athlete, I had to sit out, whereas there were 83 other sports at that time that did not have to sit out. It was at that point I was implored to understand my student athlete experience outside of the classroom, off the court. What is this NCA? What are these bylaws that I'm governed by? We've seen that change, but there was no portal when I transferred. I understand you did had to sit out a year. I did serve a year in residence. Great point. Thank you very much. Thanks for being here. Mr. Should u athletes unionize? I think they should have the option.
▶ 1:30:51You know, I think it and it varies on their preference from school to school, situation to situation. There's some schools that um you know, and and I'll say, you know, obviously in terms of leverage, the higher revenue athletes uh might have more leverage. Um but even Garland State, you know, that not necessarily a high uh revenue school. Several years ago, the athletes had real issues on safety on safety standards and they threatened a boycott and everything else.
▶ 1:31:16You know, obviously there were things that beyond money um they needed to have addressed and so I think it needs to be an option and avenue that they have a choice to uh pursue just like every other American in similar situations. Should we ban agents from representing student athletes? Not at all. Not at all. Agents, it's it's really important. Um the one one reason why college sports has evolved this way is because athletes have never had proper representation. It was banned. I mean murderers have representation, you know, in this country.
▶ 1:31:46They have the right to representation, but you have 17-year-olds coming from um homes that, you know, they may have had a college degree in the house and they're they're having to negotiate or just take whatever a multi-billion dollar industry. But you certainly agree that there's some people taking advantage of these student athletes who are acting as agents. Okay. Thank you, Mr. King. Uh, SEC, do you know what percentage of student athletes receive NIO funds? I I do not know the percentage.
▶ 1:32:15Yeah, I would think it would be higher than five or six. Well, let's put it this way. U 90% 80% 90% of of the college football athletes in the SEC, do they receive NIL funds? You know, a rough estimate? Yeah, I I don't have a rough estimate, but I would not be surprised if if that the number you quoted is accurate. You know what the largest payment is to one individual athlete? I I do not. The the agreements are not reported to the conference office right now. They're not reported anywhere.
▶ 1:32:45And overall, what does the NCA do for the SEC? Uh it certainly uh provides structure. It provides excellent championships. It's provided oversight and and uh excellent revenue producing uh some not all uh but and also obviously enforcement and rule making but with this with the house settlement the issues related to that will be handled uh differently as part of the college sports commission like Mr.
▶ 1:33:15Fry I have many more questions but my time is over I yield the rest of my time. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Appreciate it. Now recognize Representative Dingo from the great state of Michigan. And you're recognized for five minutes for your questioning. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for being here today to speak on I know some people don't think this is a critical issue, but for where all of us are, it is.
▶ 1:33:41Especially as the House settlement was approved just last week, formalizing a new era in college sports. College sports are the lifeblood of so many communities across the nation and they sure are in Michigan. I'm proud to represent both the University of Michigan, yes, go blue, and Eastern Michigan University, two very different schools with very different athletic programs. I've seen firsthand how these programs can inspire, educate, and uplift college athletes.
▶ 1:34:12And I've also seen how some of this may endanger athletics at smaller schools and a broader range of college sports across athletic departments. Many now say college athletics are becoming indistinguishable from professional sports. While this may be true for a small number of athletes at a few schools, it doesn't reflect the reality for most athletes. And people are asking, why do we need federal rules?
▶ 1:34:38Shouldn't we just let the House case play out or the House settlement play out? As you all have pointed out today, states are already considering laws that will distort the system and risks the promise of fairness and creating what I worry about a race to the bottom. We need a national framework with clear and real enforcement mechanisms.
▶ 1:35:00We must stay focused on protecting the athletes themselves, supporting the educational opportunities and programs they value, preserve the broad range of sports that colleges offer, and upholding the spirit of what college athletics has been, is, and should continue to be across the country. I know I'm naive, but I want college athletics to be college athletics. As we look ahead, Title N must be front and center.
▶ 1:35:28We cannot allow new compensation models to widen the gap between men's and women's sports. That's why gender equity and strong protections must be built into any federal framework. For most Power Four schools, about 90% of the total athletic revenue comes from football and basketball men's teams. That revenue isn't just supporting those teams. It's supporting the rest of the athletic departments.
▶ 1:35:55At the University of Michigan, for instance, this revenue helps to support 27 other varsity sports, their training programs, the facilities, and the opportunities they provide to athletes, including all the non-revenue sports that have produced Olympians like Michael Phelps, Tom Dolan, and Greg Meyer. These nonrevenue and Olympic sports face uncertainty and possible what like they may not be.
▶ 1:36:24And we don't realize in this country that the way that we our Olympians get training is through this. We don't support them in other ways. And let's not forget that while there are approximately 70 power four institutions that generate major revenue in the football and men's basketball programs, there more than a thousand other schools that offer college sports that don't.
▶ 1:36:48Across all the divisions, there are 500,000 college athletes and less than 2% of college athletes ever become professional. College athletics are not just pop pipelines to the pros for a lucky few. College athletics are supposed to be pathways for a good education, degrees, leadership, and lifelong opportunity.
▶ 1:37:12And that's why federal legislation must include real athlete representation for both revenue and non-revenue sports from large and small schools. Athletes must have a voice in the decisions that affect their futures. And they need protections around issues like medical coverage for serious long-term injuries, academic support, and how they are going to get to fight for what's good for them.
▶ 1:37:40We must also bring increased transparency and accountability to third party affiliates like collectives and boosters. Their activity should be reported, regulated, and aligned with fairness and equity, not market And as we consider any kind of antirust exemption, we must ensure it's narrow and justified. The goal here is to preserve athletes rights and ensure the long-term vi viability of college sports.
▶ 1:38:10This is a pivotal moment. We have the chance to build a system that reflects the full diversity of college athletics and protects what makes it so special. It means ensuring athletes are supported, not exploited. It means preserving Olympic sports. It means honoring Title N. And we owe it to the athletes to get right. And I'm out of time, Mr. Chairman. So, I have about a thousand questions I'll submit for the record. Thank you.
▶ 1:38:38I appreciate the gentle lady yields back. Now recognize Representative Evans from the great state of Colorado. You're recognized for five minutes. Thank you. Uh Mr. Chairman, ranking member and of course thank you to the witnesses for coming. Um Mr. King, just wanted to lead off with a question to you. Uh in this conversation, some folks have proposed the creation of a federal uh self-regulatory organization or some other sort of independent body to oversee college sports including uh NIL.
▶ 1:39:05Um so just curious in your view do you think this is necessary uh or unnecessary? What mechanisms are already in place? Uh and how do we ensure fair play and athletic protection, athlete protection without creating a new layer of bureaucracy or do you think we need a new layer of bureaucracy in the space? Thank you for the question and um it it's uh it's certainly one that's been front of mind over uh the past few months.
▶ 1:39:32Uh I do not think that we need a federally created commission. You've heard talk about the college sports commission which is arises out of the house settlement now that it's approved. It is actually uh in existence and up and running.
▶ 1:39:48uh and the way it is structured is it would it will handle the regulation uh regulation implementation of the settlement around revenue share around review of NIL agreements uh other than with the university uh to try to weed out or identify payforplay or fake NIL and so I believe that structure will will serve its role well in that area. Uh it will have a separate enforcement arm. It will be not an additional layer of bureaucracy. We don't need that.
▶ 1:40:19It will be a new approach to these issues related to the House settlement. Thank you. And and kind of following up on that, in a a previous career, I was a cop, which meant that I worked uh with a lot of bail recovery agents. And once I became a supervisor and had to kind of sort out these things on the streets from my perspective as a police officer, police sergeant, uh I learned there's actually uh in in my state there's uh bale bondsmen and bail recovery agents. The bondsmen have to be registered. The agents don't.
▶ 1:40:48And so I kind of use that as an analysis to how do we have the the appropriate level of regulation in this space for agents that are representing student athletes to make sure that uh they're doing the the right things and we don't have a wild west situation that's going on which unfortunately sometimes I saw in the unregulated unregulated component of uh interacting with bail recovery agents in my state. So I know we've talked about it a little bit.
▶ 1:41:11Can you just talk about how the uh the previous bodies you've discussed would have the ability to have that appropriate regulation to make sure that we're taking care of our student athletes without an additional layer of Yeah, thank you. Um is I think we've all talked about that there is absolutely a need for meaningful regulation of agents as a way to protect student athletes.
▶ 1:41:37um the given the where we are in college college athletics now the question of whether athletes need agents or not that's gone. We all agree that they that they should have the right to have that representation and that we need uh to know who they are. We need to know that they meet minimum qualifications and then we need to know when they don't fulfill their professional obligations to their clients. We need to know that so that they can be uh the appropriate consequences.
▶ 1:42:05Um and you know the the draft discussion provides a mechanism to at least require them to identify themselves. But I think that's a conversation that we need to it needs to continue to the to the next level to the issues you raised about how do we most efficiently effectively regulate with the least amount of bureaucracy. Thank you. And switching to Miss uh Miss Koad um student athlete.
▶ 1:42:28We want to make sure that student athletes are at the table, that your voices are heard uh when we're having these conversations about the sports because ultimately y'all are the the the the central focus of this whole conversation. So, can you just share a little bit more about uh how you were able to make a an impact in this space as a student athlete um especially when you were serving uh on a board in the NCAA? For sure. Thank you for that question. I served on the division one board of directors for a one-year term.
▶ 1:42:57I actually rolled off like 10 days ago and before that I served on three separate NCAA committees. A majority of NCA committees have student athlete representation and as we speak right now the NCAA is undergoing governance structure changes that will increase student athlete representation in the future.
▶ 1:43:16During my time, my biggest goal was to advocate for student athletes, making the house settlement digestible for your everyday student athlete that is not an attorney and that does not understand the weeds of all the specific pieces. And that was something that I really, really pushed for back in October in our in-person meeting when student athletes were scared of what was happening within the house settlement and we wanted to make it as digestible and understandable as possible. Thank you. Got it. Thank you. Yield back, chairman.
▶ 1:43:46gentleman yields back. Now recognize Miss Tran for her five minutes of questioning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I also want to thank you for um that this is a discussion draft. Uh I look forward to getting on your calendar and working with you um to ensure that this legislation is bipartisan. Thank you.
▶ 1:44:10Um, Miss Koad, when fans went to your meets, who were they cheering for? Were they cheering for your coach, your university president, your conference commissioner, or do you believe it was you and your Hi, thank you for that question. I definitely feel it was for me and my teammates being from a non-revenue generating sport, the the fans was my mom and my family members, and those were the people there watching this.
▶ 1:44:40I believe you're right. Uh, and I want to thank you for the answering the question and for being on the panel. And look, I asked that question because too often in this conversation, we lose sight of who actually drives the value, the fans, the excitement of college sports. It's not the coaches, it's not the administrators, it's the athletes. Um, Mr. Huma, I'd like for you to indulge me for a moment.
▶ 1:45:03And I'm going to describe a few provisions of this bill and I want to I would love for you to tell me in your expert opinion whether each one strengthens or restricts the rights of college athletes. You can simply respond with strengthen or restrict so we get through it. Uh, first a blanket antitrust exemption for the NCAA and conferences that eliminates athletes ability to sue over eligibility, NIL, and compensation rules.
▶ 1:45:29Restricts a provision banning college athletes from ever being permitted to collectively bargain regardless of their sport or the revenue they generate. Restricts language allowing schools or the NCAA to block NIL deals that conflict with existing contracts. restricts a preeemption of all state NIL laws, even those that currently expand and protect athletes rights. Restricts. Thank you, Mr. Huma.
▶ 1:45:57So, from what I'm hearing, this bill imposes significant new restrictions on college athletes. But let's look at what, if anything, it gives them in return. Mr. Zuma, if in your reading of the legislation, does it strengthen Title 9 enforcement to ensure more women can play college sports or ensure that they benefit fairly from the House settlement? No.
▶ 1:46:18Does it include any provisions to help international athletes like Alex Condan, who helped lead the chairman's beloved Florida Gators to a men's basketball title uh this year, access their NIL rights? No. So, I just want to get this straight. This committee is considering a bill that would constrain or roll back athlete rights, block further progress, and give them little in return. Correct.
▶ 1:46:48I think we can do a lot better. It's athletes, talent, labor, and courage that have forced the changes we've seen. Not because the college sports executives wanted it, but because young men and women across the country demanded it. Congress should be standing with the athletes who are unafraid to advocate for themselves, not undermining I yield back.
▶ 1:47:15I thank the gentle lady and I think we're going to go with Mr. VC. Mr. VC, you're recognized for five minutes for questioning. Uh Mr. Chairman, uh, thank you very much. Um, I wanted to point out something and I'm going to change my test my or comments here because I was I heard something that that kind of really really bothered me and it was about um the protection of the student athletes from an academic standpoint.
▶ 1:47:43And I want people to just remember how students were treated before NIL, the transfer portal when it came to academics. Um, a lot of these programs would do whatever it took, whatever was necessary to keep players eligible. And I can tell you stories about young people back in the 80s, 90s, 2000s that were pushed into remedial classes and they got ready to they thought they were getting ready to graduate from college their senior year.
▶ 1:48:13And there was a a kid in the Dallas Fort Worth area that was a first round draft pick and he had about 90 hours and none of them counted towards anything. That's what was happening before the transfer portal, before NIL. And I want people to know that it was wild west before then. It wasn't anyone looking out for for the student athletes before all of this happened.
▶ 1:48:37Um, I talked to one player who had a great career in the NFL, absolutely loves his coach, would do anything in the world for his former coach, and he told me, he said, "You had to decide at this university that I went to, if you wanted to be a student or if you wanted to be an athlete, if you wanted to be an a student, they would move you down the depth chart. You had to decide.
▶ 1:49:04and if you took certain classes, you would get moved down the depth chart. So, there wasn't anyone looking out for the students before all of this happened. what I would like to see and and and and don't get me started on the on the low dismal black student uh uh athlete graduating rates, black male graduating rates in football and basketball.
▶ 1:49:25If you go back and you can and easily Google some of these articles, some of these football programs and basketball programs, they would have 19, 20, 30% black male graduating rates out of these programs. So there so this the the schools want to try to put together something that looks more like the past. And I'm telling you, the past was was not perfect. The past was jacked up and these kids were being exploited. And so now they have a chance to get some of this money.
▶ 1:49:53Kids that were pushed into remedial classes were threatened to be moved down the depth chart. Now there's starting to be some equal footing here. And I don't want to take that away from future student athletes. I think that that would be terrible. And when you start talking about tinkering with the with the with the transfer portal, that is exactly uh what you will do. I do think that there needs to be some rules. I thought it was crazy that kids were transferring during the March Madness during NCA. I did not like that at all. like that's the type of thing that needs to be fixed, right?
▶ 1:50:23I think that's something that we can can all agree on. Uh protecting some of these players that are getting into these risky contracts with people and they have absolutely no idea what they're doing. I remember when my brother was getting all the letters when he went D1 and we had coaches and recruiters coming in and out of our house and you know, I was having to try to figure out a lot of that for him and I was barely 23 years old myself, right? And so these kids, they need there needs to be some protections for them.
▶ 1:50:53Uh you know, Gervin Dexter was recruited to play football at Florida, signed with an agent, and agreed to pay his uh this agent 15% of his future NFL earnings. Uh and now as a second round draft pick, he owes this agent uh $1 million. Like kids, I mean, and these these kids need to be able and these families need to be able to get in and out of these contracts with much more ease than that.
▶ 1:51:18And so those are the type of things that I think that we need to fix and we need to simplify a lot that's in this bill. And and in in the remaining time that I have left, I wanted to ask Mr. Hume if he could elaborate on whether NIL legislation should guarantee student athletes the freedom to transfer without administrative hurdles because I think that that that that's the biggest piece of all of this. my personal opinion because college football coaching was closed to so many black coaches.
▶ 1:51:47I don't think that a Deion Sanders, my son's a freshman at CU, I don't think a Deion Sanders ever gets a chance to coach big time college football without this uh transfer portal deal. Please, if you could talk about the questions I just asked you, that would be great. Sure. I I think it's important to protect the transfer opportunities as you mentioned uh schedule them at different times. You know, NA can do that right now. they don't need to schedule them during postseason um playoff games and championships and and spring football. So, I think that's something they can do as well.
▶ 1:52:15I think an important part and you're talking about graduation rates. One thing that shifted when players got these freedoms um prior to that, if a player wanted to transfer, the school couldn't take their scholarship away just for saying, "Hey, I'm interested." Now, they when they gave athletes the freedom, they say, "The moment you step foot in that portal, we can cut your scholarship and close your opportunity." And players are being blamed for a lot of this. Many of these players are being forced into these portals because the coaches are running them off and they and players need to be protected from that as well.
▶ 1:52:47Gentleman yields back. Appreciate it. And uh we have now recognize Mr. Keane from the great state of New Jersey for his five minutes of questioning. Uh thank you, Mr. chairman and thank you to our distinguished witnesses for being here today. As we look at supporting student athletes around the country, it is important that we provide a consistent legal framework that allows our student athletes to thrive. Federal NIL legislation is an important step towards this end. Mr.
▶ 1:53:17King, in the New Jersey state Senate, I voted to advance NIL rights through the New Jersey Fair Play Act. This bill ensured that New Jersey student athletes could receive compensation for use of their NIL. Could you share how the SCORE act would ensure uh that students have equal opportunities for NIL rights not just in New Jersey but across this country? Yeah, thank you for the question.
▶ 1:53:45And as we we've talked about the House settlement, the the draft discussion incorporates some of the the key parts of the House settlement and and one of those is regulation of NIL agreements other than with the university outside or third party NIL and the the the settlement and the draft discussion as I read it both have the common goal of no limit on student athlete compensation with one exception and that is If it
▶ 1:54:15is not NIL, it's fake NIL or pay for play and that's the and it involves a a payor a company that is associated or affiliated with the university. Other than that, um and and I'm not I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with with the New Jersey law, but other than that, the the an athlete's ability to earn NIL income from people outside the university remains the same. Thank you, Miss Montgomery.
▶ 1:54:43Is there anything that you would like to add on the important impact of federal legislation protecting NIL rights? Um, the only thing I will add is, and I think you alluded to this, is the importance of how this will benefit our student athletes and being able to be informed and being educated as they make these life-changing decisions.
▶ 1:55:02um a federal framework will now regardless if you're being recruited by an institution in the state of New Jersey or an institution in the state of Georgia, student athletes now know what that standard is instead of having to deem which one is appropriate andor the competitiveness that starts there. Thank you.
▶ 1:55:20Um, Miss Koad, as a student athlete yourself, you know firsthand the importance of maintaining academic integrity while allowing students to receive reasonable compensation for their name, image, and likeness. Could you share how this legislation would benefit student athletes like yourself? Thank you for that question.
▶ 1:55:42legislation of this nature would benefit student athletes like me because I'm the type of student athlete you don't hear about on the SEC top 10 and yet there are hundreds of thousands of us out there that are just as capable on capitalizing on NIL and doing a really great job at it. So having universal NIL rules would create that environment where we could all capitalize equally and move forward. Thank you. Thank you.
▶ 1:56:10Now, Miss is important that higher education institutions can ensure academic integrity while supporting their student athletes NIL rights. What provisions are important to ensure academic integrity is maintained? Thank you again for that question. I think first and foremost um the ability from an NCA perspective to maintain our academic eligibility standards.
▶ 1:56:36That is something that keeps college athletics at its core and that's the academic component. When it comes to the name, image, and likeness, I look at this as an enhancement for our student athletes. But it's important that regardless of the framework and the direction that removes forward, higher education and academic and the current eligibility status remain prominent. Thank you. Thank you. Uh thank you all to every one of our witnesses here today and I and I yield back. Thank you. Thank you.
▶ 1:57:05Gentleman yields back. Now I recognize Miss Fedorch who has waved on for this particular subcommittee. You're recognized for five minutes of questioning. Excellent. Good. Uh good morning all of you. It's still morning. Uh I'm Julie Fedorch. I represent the entire state of North Dakota which includes both the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University, two division one FCS schools.
▶ 1:57:32So, we're very proud of our schools, but they are probably the exact size school that's going to be um particularly challenged in this new environment. Uh so, I really appreciate you all sharing your expertise and your experiences here today and just have a couple questions for you. Um Mr.
▶ 1:57:49King, given the wide dispar disparity in budgets and resources among division 1 institutions from 10 million to 300 million, how can we ensure that national NIL policies don't disproportionately benefit the power five programs while effectively marginalizing non-autonomy conferences like the big south or institutions like the University of North Dakota or North Dakota State?
▶ 1:58:19So from a national standpoint, as opposed to 50 different state laws, having uniformity is is obviously important and then allowing as much freedom as possible for the student athletes while achieving the goal of having some regulation, some structure rather than just completely unregulated, which is where we we basically are now.
▶ 1:58:42uh the house settlement which if it is codified as part of federal legislation maintains that but it provides structure in that that the NIL agreements will be submitted and reviewed to make sure that they're not pay for play and that they're not um fake NIL. Um, I'm speculating, but I would imagine that that is less of an issue at North Dakota and North Dakota State, although I will note that you have really, really good football. Um, and and hockey. Don't forget our hockey.
▶ 1:59:13It's been a little down lately, but it's coming back. We don't we don't do hockey, so I'm not as familiar, but I know you're good in football. Um, and that the type of regulation I'm talking about would make it more difficult for someone to come to one of your players and say, "Please transfer. We have this deal to you to give you," which is not really NIL. It's fake NIL. Uh, that that sort of regulation would be uniform. Okay. Thank you.
▶ 1:59:40Um, Miss Montgomery, thank you for your uh, honesty today and your great testimony. You've raised concerns about the current lack of regulation around NIL agents and the risk of roster That's also a concern that our institutions have expressed.
▶ 1:59:59Uh can you provide examples of how this is affecting student athletes or smaller schools ability to retain talent and what would be some of the solutions for addressing that those issues? Thank you so much for that question. Um I'll probably pick up where Mr. King left off and the uniformity of those laws. While it will not completely abolish tampering, I do think it could curtail um that aspect. That is a very real concern.
▶ 2:00:26An example of that is if you were to have a football student athlete that decided they would like to reopen their recruitment process, they're now going to be able to confirm that the NIL opportunities that they are being offered and received are actually legitimate prior to making that decision.
▶ 2:00:43So I think that that is one example of how uniformity in the name, image, and likeness space will once again not abolish tampering, but it can curtail it from a standpoint of student athletes being able to ensure they are considering legitimate opportunities instead of nefarious activity andor pay for play. Okay, thank you.
▶ 2:01:02Uh, and then do any of you have um concerns about the this governing commission that was established in the settlement and thoughts on what needs to be done to clarify their roles and responsibility, their oversight authority, how we're going to have some um enforcement through that group or whoever else is going to be enforcing these uh new rules and rags. Mr.
▶ 2:01:30Um Homer Homa thank you uh thanks for that question. I think um in the context of Congress if Congress looks to a third party enforcement mechanism it should not be one where the conference is solely select you know there should be it should be neutral number one and it shouldn't just focus on whatever the parameters may be economically needs to focus on safety standards any of benefit protection that athletes have the athletes need a referee okay because otherwise it'd be they'd be taken advantage of thank you I have 15 seconds
▶ 2:02:00anybody else thoughts on that I I tried to get in ahead of Mr. Hima but failed. U the uh the college sports commission has been created to bring life to the settlement to create a mechanism nationally to um regulate and monitor institutional revenue share to make sure that people don't exceed the limit.
▶ 2:02:23Uh to regulate NIL as I talked about to to far it out pay for play or fake NIL and make sure that it it's legitimate. uh and to enforce to create rules and enforce those that it has already created rules uh to to to bring to life the specifics of the settlement and then there will be rules made in the future to try to uh prevent people from circumventing or getting around the settlement.
▶ 2:02:48So absolutely I'm I'm very confident in the ability of that u that commission to to regulate in this area effectively moving forward. Okay. Thank you. I yield back. I thank the gentle lady. Now I recognize my fellow Florida Gator, Miss Kamik, for her five minutes of questioning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Listen, he did do it because you are a Georgia Bulldog. He's just much nicer than I am.
▶ 2:03:20Thank you to our witnesses for being here today. Obviously, uh, college athletics is something that is all very near and dear to our heart. I'm very proud to represent the Gator Nation up here in our nation's capital and appreciate everyone's contributions to this hearing today. Uh I'm I'm just going to start with um you Mr. King um talking about the score act and how the IAA enforces rules on revenue sharing and NIL disclosures.
▶ 2:03:47Now you flagged the risk of constant litigation anytime the rules change. However, should we be thinking about how to structure the IIAa oversight to avoid these future lawsuits, for example, through transparency mandates or uh safe harbor triggers that are built into the federal law itself? Yeah, thank you for the question and and you really hit on some of the key issues.
▶ 2:04:12So, the IAA IAA, we just call the college sports commission or CSC has been created to regulate in this area. You are correct that one of the concerns that I I raised earlier, one of the needs in the legislation is to to preempt the state laws, codify the rules coming out of the settlement and provide protection so long as schools follow those rules, conferences, associations that they will not be subject to liability.
▶ 2:04:41We need that structure to give this a chance to work. It is a really good settlement. I want to be respectful of your time, but there it is. Contrary to to Mr. Hume's views, there are some incredible positives in this settlement for athletes that I think no one 10 years ago would have ever thought. Um things that that um that were requested or put forth in legislation four or five years ago that have now been done, they need to be codified.
▶ 2:05:09Revenue share, medical guarantees, post participation. codifi codify those things and create a structure where this commission can enforce them, give them a chance to succeed and see what happens rather than immediately being in lawsuits left and right while trying to to start this new system. Okay, I appreciate that.
▶ 2:05:30Now, of course, the bill would also require that student uh athletes disclose NIL deals over $600, as we've talked about a couple times here today, and it allows interstate, intercolgate athletic associations to collect and share aggregated data. My question is this.
▶ 2:05:45Now under the framework of the score act, how do we ensure that the data collected through the process actually gets turned into useful accessible comparative information both for schools looking to maintain compliance for student athletes trying to understand if fair market value is there or what oversight or reporting should Congress be considering to make sure that this isn't a one-way data collection exercise? Yeah.
▶ 2:06:10So the the data collection is uh an issue that really has not been talked about a lot but I think it will be huge advantage for athletes for people on campus. Uh and but it will be respectful of the athletes privacy. So it will be aggregated. It will be anonymized. It will not you will not be able to to learn specifically what Joe Jones gets from his university or he gets from this deal. That that will that will be protected.
▶ 2:06:39But Joe Jones will be able to know what an average at his position for an autonomy for school or for an SEC school. What is an average uh in NIL or in institutional rev share those sorts of things. Likewise, the agents will their agents will have access to that information as will the university. So, it will be a much more candid discussion.
▶ 2:07:03You know, we're still working out the details on how that will be shared and with whom it will be shared, how public will it be, but respecting the athletes privacy while giving everyone involved in this new system the information they need to make informed decisions, I think is a real benefit. And and obviously there's some some legal concerns about how the information is shared as well and and we're obviously monitoring and and aware of those, but I think it will be a huge positive for everyone when this information is shared. Excellent.
▶ 2:07:32Well, and going completely in a different direction here in talking about section three of the score act, um it says that uh under this this legislation, it affirms the right of student athletes to enter into NIL agreements which cannot be restricted by their school, the IAA or the conference. And exceptions uh exist for schools that can restrict deals that one violate the student code of conduct or two conflict with the school's existing contracts.
▶ 2:08:00Um, now I know I'm built for comfort, not for speed these days, but back in the day I was actually cheering uh as an undergrad and uh there was a situation where several of my teammates uh engaged in Foxy football. Uh it got into a gray area of the school's code of conduct under this. Is there a preeemption that should be required in this legislation because school code of conducts are all over the map?
▶ 2:08:27Is there something that you see being potentially problematic moving forward where maybe there's a bit of a gray area, maybe adult content that students may be engaging in, while lawful and legal, that could potentially become problematic moving forward. I'd like to open this up to the entire panel. I'll start with you, Miss Montgomery. I'm sorry, quickly because uh I got 30 seconds. Yes. Um I do think that that could be problematic.
▶ 2:08:54um not only is this written here, but I think there's also currently an expectation when it comes to name, image, and likeness opportunities that they do not um fall outside of the expectation code of conduct with institutions with the example that you specifically raised. Um I do see that potentially being a gray area, one of concern. Thank you, Mr. Um, you know, I think a baseline good good test could be if the school is not partnering with these types of industries uh for moral reasons and and and reputational reasons that might be a good u balance.
▶ 2:09:24I think right now as written is very very broad restrictions. Um they really need to be uh reeled in. Mr. King, I just looked at the language quickly. It says an institution may not shall restrict. So it's left to the campus and I would imagine that in some parts of our country what would be objectionable behavior to let's say an institution with a religious affiliation might not be a problem at all at others.
▶ 2:09:48So those can be made at the campus level based on institutional values and also between the university and the athlete depending on the circumstance. we've already seen uh very high-profile athletes sign shoe deals with companies other than the company their university is using.
▶ 2:10:06Um so it's I think it this rather than view this as boy this is a a stonewall there's no way that athlete this will be handled at the campus level I would imagine maybe on in some areas a policy but otherwise on a case-byase basis. And finally and I know I'm way over time she's going to go real fast Mr. German very fast. Thank you. Um I would echo Mr. King. Our institutions are so unique and so different. I come from a mid- major school that is very much smaller than the University of Florida.
▶ 2:10:36And what is okay in our university is probably different than what is okay at a big power five school. And so it's really important that it's left in the institution's hands. And I will say that your your school has a great reputation and I have quite a few constituents and family members that attend your school. Okay. Uh now we'll yield to uh Mrs. Clark her five minutes of questioning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank uh ranking member member Shakowski for holding today's hearing.
▶ 2:11:06I want to thank our expert witnesses for bringing your expertise to the table uh this morning. Uh the topic of NIL and college sports is one this committee has been grappling with for years and with the recent settlement in House V. NCAA. It is more important than ever that we reach some consensus on what exactly our role is here.
▶ 2:11:30Unfortunately, it it in its current form, the discussion draft before us today, it is something I cannot support. I appreciate Chairman Bill Rockus' good faith attempt to create a national standard for NIL deals and desire to create a more level playing field for athletic programs while providing athletes more clarity moving forward. But I have some real concerns with the current iteration of this bill as well as some of the provisions of the settlement of the House lawsuit.
▶ 2:12:00First and foremost, let me state that even though this may not be within our committee's wide jurisdiction, I am extremely hesitant to grant any kind of liability limit or antirust exemptions at this stage given that antirust lawsuits are the driving factor in bringing about this long overdue era of fair compensation for college athletes.
▶ 2:12:23Second, major universities have made clear their belief that these athletes should not be classified as employees, and I'm sensitive to that, especially because it could be an existential threat to H.B.CU if such a classification were to be However, the House settlement and the discussion draft before us today make clear to me that there needs to be some kind of legitimate collective bargaining between college athletes and the NCAA and its member institutions.
▶ 2:12:54makes no sense to me to give rules laid out by the NCAA, the institution originally responsible for the decadesl long exploitation of college athletics, uh the power of law as a response to a growing number of antirust lawsuits challenging that exploitation. You don't protect young people by putting into law the rules regarding their exploitation and providing no mechanism to ensure them a properly fair and fairly administered.
▶ 2:13:25Further, if we're going to arbitrarily allow conferences to cap the amount that schools can directly pay through revenue sharing their college athletes, we should not put up additional barriers around NIL collectives that supplement this income for deserving young athletes.
▶ 2:13:45There's more than enough money to go around in college sports, but it seems the NCAA and many universities want to make sure that that money once donated donated directly to their programs to enrich themselves and their coaches and administrators rather than the college athletes. That's not about a level playing field. That seems like greed to me. So, Mr.
▶ 2:14:08King, do you know how much money the athletic departments of the 15 public universities in the SEC spent in fiscal year 2024 on severance for coaches they fired? According to one report, the number is over $72 million. And again, that's just for last year.
▶ 2:14:31This is part of the reason I'm not particularly sympathetic to any arguments for in favor of capping the amount of money players can receive. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to enter an article I have on severance pay from al.com into the record. Without objection. So ordered. Thank you very much, Mr. Huer. Thank you for joining us once again.
▶ 2:14:58It's great to see such a forceful advocate for college athletes before this committee once again. Can you tell this committee where you think the House settlement and discussion draft of the score act falls short and could be improved and is there anything we can do to strengthen health protections for college athletes for example? I think uh number one you mentioned the boosters you know they want to shut down uh boosters ability to pay players. It's just to re remmon monopolize it.
▶ 2:15:28As you mentioned, boosters before they could only pay the schools once once the athletes had their freedom. The boosters can make a decision and some of that money flo was flowing to the players. Um it's it's now being de demonized as fake NIL and this is bad. The schools just want their money back and they want to monopolize it and they and they're actually excluding in this draft they exclude the booster money from being shared with the players. This is just a money grab.
▶ 2:15:52$2 billion back in their pockets and they pay maybe what 1.3 on the way out to revenue share if they max out they actually make money in this situation and as you mentioned unless they're going to cap coaches salaries facilities and and share evenly I know there was a question about you know North Dakota why would they support something like this this benefits the the richer most powerful conferences so we can't fantasize and pretend that's not happening and in that situation college athletes are not the only people excluded from the free market that's what this model is a free market
▶ 2:16:23model and that's okay if that's going to be the model. If it's going to be something different, then let's talk about revenue sharing with Florida and Florida Atlantic and every and everyone else in between, but that's not the discussion. It's only about how to hammer the players and remonopize that money. And could you tell a little bit about the health protections for college athletes? Absolutely. From our perspective, Congress has a duty.
▶ 2:16:43you know, they have a duty to help make sure that um athletes, not just at the um the places where maybe there could be collective bargaining and players have le the leverage to protect their athletes, but North Dakota athletes need protections as well. You know, um no matter what level, community colleges all the way up, everyone needs protections. Congress, it's you or no one. And and if this is going to be that moment, then let it be that moment. Very well. Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Gentle lady yields back.
▶ 2:17:10And I'll recognize uh the vice chairman of the full committee uh for his five minutes of questioning. And I'm sorry, buddy. I'm not doing this on purpose. I promise you, you're my SEC partner, so I would I wouldn't be doing that to you. Thank you, Mr. Recogniz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and for your understanding. And to the panel, thank you for being here. And and please understand that some of us have dueling committees. It's not a rudeness thing. Did not get to hear my predecessors questions, but I did get a chance to look at some of the written testimony. And so if this is a duplicate, please forgive me.
▶ 2:17:39But a question for Mr. King in regard to the transfer portals. It's my understanding that there's really no requirement in there that takes into consideration as student athletes credits. And uh I'm personally I'm concerned about this thing that college and universities are supposed to ultimately serve the purpose for and that's an education.
▶ 2:18:03And so, uh, should there be a inclusion, uh, of of, uh, what happens to a student athletes credits when they make a transfer through the portal? Yeah, that's it is something that was discussed previously, but not framed the way you did, and you framed it exactly the way I would, so thank you for that. Um, so right now, basically unlimited transfers.
▶ 2:18:28you can transfer as many times as you want and the focus has been entirely on tampering and competitive and rebuilding rosters and really no one talks much about what you raise and that is what does it do to the to the education and um the the truth is is that the vast majority of the athletes well over 90% are not going to play professionally when they finish and the education must remain front and center in this and I have talked directly with athletes on our campus who found out after they
▶ 2:18:58transferred from somewhere outside in that some of their credits didn't come with them and it was going to take a a semester or a year longer to graduate maybe beyond their eligibility. So, it's absolutely something that we need to be tracking on and what I don't have to share with you is is because we're two three years into this actually really a year and a half into unlimited transfers.
▶ 2:19:21We don't have the data yet, but I fully expect that you will see that the athletes who enter the portal, especially multiple times at their rate of success academically will be significantly lower. And that's my concern. So, thank you for that thoughtful answer. And I believe that's something that we need to consider from our perspective as well. So, thank you for clarifying that. Follow-up question to you. Uh, and this is in in regard to collectives. Is there anything in the House settlement that limits a collective from giving directly to a school?
▶ 2:19:50and and uh is would you see that as an important component to keeping a program competitive or perhaps helping fund those programs that aren't So there is nothing in this house settlement specific to collectives because that was not at issue there the collective specifically in the lawsuit.
▶ 2:20:10But from a regulation standpoint uh and this is applies to everyone not just collectives um third party agreements with entities or individuals associated with an institution and that's defined and it's set forth in the draft discussion as well that those will be sub review to make sure they're real that they're actual NIL and not pay for play. Um other than that there there's there's really nothing coming out of the settlement that would specifically relate there to your question about the donation.
▶ 2:20:40uh there's nothing that would limit a collective's ability to gather money and then give it to the school. Um I think many people believe that it that um if the settlement goes forward and works as it should that the the individuals who have donated to the collectors in the past will be you know might redirect money or decide to give money directly to the school. I'm going to thank you for that. I've only got a minute left so I'm going to abbreviate this. hopefully it will make sense, but it's along that same line.
▶ 2:21:10Um, personally, I've been concerned about some of the transparency and some of these NIL deals and and the potential bad actors that that get involved as as agents or uh taking advantage of students. And in terms of the revenue sharing model, you mentioned the payforplay. Are you confident that a future revenue sharing model will prevent that pay-to-play thing? And and and who's who is the appropriate channel to oversee that?
▶ 2:21:39So the settlement agreement gives the conferences the and the NCAA but the conferences ability to create a structure to make rules and enforce to to implement the settlement. And the four conferences have created an entity called the college sports commission. It went live after the settlement was approved but has been months in the planning and making that will uh enforce the rules to to make the settlement work.
▶ 2:22:05And so that yes that is already that is in in place and will be a work in progress in the coming months but uh it is it exists now. Thank you Mr. King. Uh Mr. Chairman I again appreciate your patience and the same to Mr. Carter. Thank you for your patience and I yield back. Thank you sir. I appreciate now I yield back to my good friend I mean I yield to my good friend uh from the great state of Georgia Mr. Carter Chairman Carter for his five minutes of questioning. Well thank you Mr.
▶ 2:22:34Chairman, we're going to make the Georgia boy go last, I guess. But I I'm really appreciate all of y'all being here and and sincerely, Mr. Chairman, appreciate your work and this this subcommittee's work on this most important issue. It's very impressive, not only for a member of Congress to put in that much work, but a member of Florida Gator Nation. But nevertheless, thank y'all for being here. One thing I want to talk to you about real quickly, particularly you, Mr. King, is the walk-on uh situation.
▶ 2:23:03I I know that y'all just recently or the NCAA just recently removed the scholarship limits and put in roster limits to allow more flexibility particularly for schools that are funding non-revenue sports. And this is of concern if you'll remember back when the University of Georgia go dogs won the national championship back toback. We had a walk-on quarterback and and that's very important.
▶ 2:23:25I have a lot of I know a lot of people who walked on and and played in in in um in college as walk-ons and I'm just concerned and I'd like to ask you, Mr. King, if you'd comment on what you think is um the impact of this is going to be if we if we have the the availability of walk-on opportunities limited. Yeah, thank you. That's a really important question. So, thank you for raising it.
▶ 2:23:53So for for those of you who've been following the house settle actually for those of you who have not been following it, one of the issues that's addressed in the settlement is it eliminates scholarship limits under NCAA rules. So for example, baseball has had a scholarship limit of 11.7 and uh it was the only sport that had a roster limit before the settlement and the roster limit was 34. So the coaches had to spread 11.7 over 34 players.
▶ 2:24:21After the settlement, those limits are gone, but each sport now has a roster limit, and I believe baseball would stay at 34 if my recollection. So, Georgia can offer 34 full scholarships provide in baseball if it chooses. So, where in the past some of the athletes on the baseball roster would have been walk-ons because they didn't receive scholarship aid, now they'll be able to, and that that's true across all sports.
▶ 2:24:47So, the ability of walk-ons to be a part of the program is still there. It's just they may not be a walk-on anymore. They may be on scholarship. All right. One, two, just focus on football because you mentioned Stson Bennett football. And by the way, is for my district and whose parents are pharmacists like me. I just want to make sure I got that in. I'm sorry. Yeah. Good. Good. Good plug in. Um the roster limit will be 105. scholarship scholarship limit has been is 85 before.
▶ 2:25:18So a school has any school has the ability to go up to 105 scholarships. They also have the ability to have more than 105 athletes in their preseason camp. They just have to reduce the roster to 105 before the first game. Three, as part of the settlement, Judge Wilin really did not like the fact that um that some athletes, primarily walkons, were going to lose their roster spot. And so she asked us to address that and we did.
▶ 2:25:45So any athlete who was going to lose their roster spot is given a special status designated as designated student athlete where they don't count. So you'll be able to go to the roster limit and keep any walk-ons or other athletes um above that number. And if you have that designated tag, you can transfer anywhere and it goes with you where you don't count. Okay. So, maybe it looks worse than it's actually going to be is what it sounds like. Um, the rest of we got about a minute and a half here left.
▶ 2:26:15Although, uh, I believe my Florida counterpart gave gave two minutes. Actually, not that I'm not counting. I'm just I'm just saying, Mr. King, one another thing. Uh, I know that this has been a long hearing and and I I couldn't help but um but hear the question from my colleague on the other side of the aisle about the number of uh coaches in the SEC who had been fired and how much we're paying.
▶ 2:26:38And I just wanted to give you an opportunity if you wanted to respond to that or anything else that's been said today because it correct me if I'm wrong, but most of that's coming from one school from It is. You know, you can't put me on the spot anybody. So um there have been a number of things that I this this format does not lend itself well to jump in and say wait a minute particularly around the area of of medical care for athletes.
▶ 2:27:06Um I'm I'm not in any way uh denigrating or downplaying any of the instances Mr. Humea talked about. But the way he describes health care is just in in college athletics is completely contrary to what I see on our campuses.
▶ 2:27:20He also omitted that you know one of the in the I've been doing coming to DC for over five years now and in the first draft bills u particularly in the in the Senate of Senator Booker and Senator Blumenthal thank them very much for their continued work as well as Senator Cruz but those bills included revenue share and they included guaranteed health care beyond uh the athletes career well the autonomy conferences were already doing that in this five-year period now the NCAA is doing it for division
▶ 2:27:51one, two, and three out of pockets covered for two years. So, it's so admitted in that conversation that these things are are already happening now. U and so I just wanted to make that that clear. Um the new scholarships in house, we've touched on it. I I would love to walk through the house settlement, but I know we don't have time. But the the scholarship limits going away is it's just not a real um sizzle issue.
▶ 2:28:21People don't want to talk about it. But the benefit of that change, particularly for the non-revenue sports, is really hard to quantify. And every scholarship that is offered to a male athlete, must be matched for a female athlete. So if someone decides to go all in on baseball and add 20 plus scholarships when they have to do it across the board and several schools have already come out and said these are higher resource schools that they're going to do it for for every athlete.
▶ 2:28:49That is an incredible benefit as part of this settlement. Um and I I would love to talk about more about the collective bargaining issues there, but I'm getting the gavvel here, so I I'll have to go. But one last thing, go dogs. All right. Well, thank you very much and I'm glad you cleared up that the roster because I know that was a sticking point uh at the end with regard to the settlement is concerned too. So, I understand a lot better. Thanks for asking that question.
▶ 2:29:19But buddy, I appreciate it. And listen, uh this was a great uh hearing. I thought very informative. And I know we're going to follow up with some questions. I I I tell you, you were outstanding. And uh yes, anybody you need something? No. Okay. I was going to give her the opportunity to to speak, but uh but I know I'm going to follow up with questions. Thank you. Uh but great testimony and cleared up a lot of issues.
▶ 2:29:47So uh I I ask unanimous consent that the docu documents on the staff document list be submitted for the record without objection. So ordered. I'd like to thank all your thanks for your patience and thanks for asking answering all the questions. Uh members may have additional written questions for all of you.
▶ 2:30:10Uh I remind members that they have 10 business days to submit questions for the record and I ask the witness the witnesses to respond to the questions promptly. Members should submit their questions by the close of business day on Friday, June 20th. So if there's nothing further, without objection, the committee is adjourned. Right. All right. I agree. Excellent.