NCAA Trying to Regain Control

Inside Higher Ed ran an article on the NCAA's efforts in Congress to get control of NIL (name, image, likeness) payments to student athletes. By allowing NIL, the Supreme Court opened the door to payments to such athletes which in turn cracked open the door to considering them as employees. 

A House subcommittee is moving forward on a bill that would create national rules of the road to rein in the growing name, image and likeness “Wild West” in college sports. The House Innovation, Data and Commerce Subcommittee heard testimony and feedback on a draft version of the legislation Thursday. The hearing was the 11th Congress has held about the NIL rights of student athletes, but the first one focused on a specific piece of legislation—showing some forward progress on an issue that’s the top legislative priority for the National Collegiate Athletic Association...

Since 2021, college athletes have been able to sign deals with businesses and other entities to make money off their names, images and likenesses. This has led to a patchwork of state laws outlining NIL rights for students, which the NCAA says creates an uneven playing field. Meanwhile, leading athletes have cashed in, some earning more than $1 million a year. However, the windfall hasn’t been evenly felt across sports and institutions, fueling concerns that NIL could jeopardize non-revenue-generating sports...

The NCAA... wants Congress to affirm that student athletes are not employees of an institution, which the association says is critical. Some student athletes have sought to unionize in recent years, arguing that they are employees with collective bargaining rights, while the NCAA says they are amateurs and not able to form a union. A federal lawsuit, Johnson v. NCAA, filed in 2019 also argues that student athletes are employees. A decision in favor of the plaintiffs could spell the end of the amateur model. “It’s the No. 1 priority for the NCAA; they are deathly afraid of employee status for college athletes,” said Ehrlich of Boise State. “It really feels to me like they’re reaching out to the federal government to make their lives easier.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/2024/01/19/draft-nil-bill-aims-save-college-sports-we-know-it.

Given the current dysfunction in Congress, it seems unlikely that this bill will be enacted anytime soon, if ever. 

As we noted in a prior post, the economic model for college sports at UCLA (and elsewhere) is under strain.* The Regents' committee to deal with student athletics is meeting today. Whether anyone will bring up the NIL issue is unknown.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/01/but-apart-from-that-chancellors-block.html.