WASHINGTON — A U.S. House committee approved a bill Thursday that would prevent college athletes from being considered employees of a school, conference or governing organization like the NCAA .
The Education and Workforce Committee’s action marks the first time in college sports officials’ recent period of lobbying Congress that a bill has even received a committee vote. Now the measure can be brought before the House.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), who wrestled for Liberty University when it was an NCAA Division II school and later worked for the school as a administrator of the athletics department. Its all-Republican group of co-sponsors includes Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (NC). The 23-16 vote in favor of the measure fell along partisan lines.
It remains to be seen whether the Republican-controlled House leadership will bring the bill to a full vote. It is also unclear how this proposal will be received in the Senate, controlled by Democrats. —
In separate interviews Thursday with USA TODAY Sports ahead of the committee hearing, Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who have been active on issues related to college sports, said that they were looking for a more comprehensive solution. measure.
“Just looking at one of these topics and not looking at the whole thing is a little problematic for me,” Booker said.
Blumenthal said, “I think there are ways to ensure more justice and equity without making athletes formal employees of their schools,” but he added, “While I have reservations about employment status, I want to get the same kind of benefits and rights that employment status would provide.
Asked if recent NCAA rule changes aimed at improving benefits for athletes were enough, Blumenthal said: “I think more needs to be done. The NCAA has provided a start.”
The committee’s passage of the bill Thursday comes about three weeks after the NCAA and Power Five approved the proposed settlement of three antitrust athlete compensation lawsuits that would include $2.8 billion in damages and additional billion in future revenue-sharing payments to athletes, including shares. money from sponsorship income.
But the proposed settlement does not address the employment status of athletes and would not fully cover ongoing legal risks for the NCAA.
“The NCAA is making changes to provide improved health, wellness and academic benefits to student-athletes and the association is proud to join student-athlete leaders from all three divisions in supporting this legislation.” , said the senior vice president of external affairs of the NCAA. Tim Buckley said in a statement after the vote. “By building on the proposed regulation, by joining with Congress to affirm that student-athletes are not employees, we can continue our progress in building a model of college sports that provides equitable opportunities and experiences to as many young people as possible.”
Good’s bill is narrowly worded and targets only the employment issue. While the NCAA and its member schools and conferences also seek some form of protection from antitrust lawsuits like those that have hovered over college sports for more than 15 years, NCAA President Charlie Baker has been adamant in his opposition to the prospect of college athletes becoming school employees.
“Once again, Congressional Republicans have decided to move forward with legislation to limit the rights of college athletes with little or no input from the athletes themselves,” said Rep. Lori Trahan ( Democrat from Mass.), who has been active on issues related to college sports. , said in a statement: “It is disappointing that Republican members of the Education and Workforce Committee are choosing to advance a bill targeting a hypothetical question about the very real challenges currently facing athletes, including Title IX loopholes that harm women and international athletes without NIL rights. If House Republicans decide to force a vote on this partisan legislation, I will vote no and continue to do so. I encourage my Democratic colleagues to do the same.
If this bill becomes law, it would likely end several lawsuits that could result in college athletes becoming school employees. Cases are being pursued by National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officials regarding the employment status of men’s basketball players at Dartmouth and the status of football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball players at the University of Southern California.
These cases occurred in the months after Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB’s general counsel appointed by the Biden administration, issued a memo saying she considered college athletes employees under the National Health Act. labor relations.
In his opening remarks, Foxx specifically cited the NLRB cases, saying the bill “protects the economic freedom of student-athletes from misclassification by NLRB bureaucrats.” During the debate, Good called the idea of preventing college athletes from becoming employed as “probably a matter of common sense for most Americans.” He said having athletes employed would, among other things, increase administrative and other costs for athletic departments, and thus lead schools to abandon the sport.
He said the Biden administration would rather see “one more union employee” even if it meant thousands of athletes would lose the opportunity to play sports.
However, this is not just an NLRB issue. There is an ongoing affair with the 3rd The U.S. Court of Appeals aims to ensure that college athletes become employees entitled to at least a minimum wage, the same way students are paid for work-study jobs.
Paul McDonald, the attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, sent a letter to members of the Education and Workforce Committee this week, saying the bill approved Thursday would violate the Constitution’s provisions on equal protection because it would result in different treatment of college athletes. for their work that work-study students, who can also benefit from scholarships, are treated for theirs.
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the committee, pointed to the bill’s title, “Student-Athletes Economic Freedom Protection Act,” and said, “The only freedom the bill “The law protects is the freedom of Republicans to deprive athletes of their rights.”
In the Senate, negotiations took place between Senator Ted Cruz (Republican of Texas) and Booker, Blumenthal (Democrat of Connecticut) and Jerry Moran (Republican of Kansas) on a more comprehensive bill addressing issues related to college sports, but they So far they have not been able to resolve the discrepancies in the discussion drafts that they have respectively released.
Cruz’s version includes a provision that would prevent athletes from being employed by any school, conference or college athletic association.