College athletics experts and stakeholders urged Congress to enact legislation regulating the so-called "Name, Image, and Likeness" market in college sports during a hearing of the House Small Business Committee Wednesday.
The hearing, titled "Athletes and Innovators: Analyzing NIL’s Impact on Entrepreneurial Collegiate Athletes,” is the latest sign that Congress is seriously considering enacting legislation to regulate the NIL market. Wednesday's hearing featured two collegiate athletic directors, a former Heisman Trophy winner, Gino Torretta, and an athlete rights advocate as witnesses.
AS GOP WRESTLES WITH SPENDING DEAL, WILL HOUSE DEMOCRATS COME TO THEIR AID?
The hearing focused on several issues related to athlete compensation, beginning with the fact that there is no uniform regulatory framework in place, and state laws have made a regulatory landscape with often conflicting regulations and state laws.
In his opening statement, Committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) noted the "patchwork" regulatory landscape as states have passed laws governing NIL at their universities.
"Since there is no uniform set of regulations, individual states are stepping in and passing their own rules governing their universities," Williams said. "This patchwork approach is putting all the colleges who compete in different states in the awkward position of choosing to comply with state law, NCAA guidelines, or conference regulations that all might be conflicting."
There were also concerns raised about the role that so-called NIL "collectives" play in the collegiate athletic landscape. Such collectives are typically 501c (3) nonprofit organizations that pool money from donors to provide prospective college athletes with NIL deals.
The primary concern raised at the hearing concerning the collectives is that they provide collegiate sports fans with a place to donate money in order to influence a high school athlete's choice of school by enticing them with sponsorship deals, and that this provides opportunities for athletes to be exploited financially.
Texas Christian University athletics director Jeremiah Donati described the current NIL landscape as a "Wild Wild West environment" that has led to many student-athletes being "exploited, deceived and harmed for others’ personal gain."
"While NIL 'collectives,' often set up under 501c (3) status, have provided universities with an efficient tool to fulfill NIL opportunities from donor support outside of direct institutional control, the governance and oversight of these organizations has been inconsistent in its application and in desperate need of uniform oversight," Donati said.
Donati, along with Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith, outlined several things that should be included in a NIL bill. This includes registration for agents who represent athletes, a public registry of NIL deals for transparency, and a ban on NIL inducements.
Several bills have been introduced in both chambers of Congress over the past year that would standardize NIL regulations at the federal level, and have garnered bipartisan support.
In May, Reps Mike Carey (R-OH) and Greg Landsman (D-OH) introduced the Student Athlete Level Playing Field Act, which includes many of the provisions advocated by Smith and Donati, including agent registration, NIL deal transparency, and banning inducements.
A similar bill, the Protecting Athletes, Schools, and Sports (PASS) Act, was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) in July.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Chairman Williams said that while he doesn't think that the federal government should be doing much to regulate collegiate athletics, the hearing provided lawmakers "with something we can build on" and that it showed Congress is "willing to help to the extent that we can" in standardizing a regulatory landscape.
"Right now, in the eyes of the public, the government can't run anything, much less be involved in college athletics, but if there's guidelines that we can help set up, I think that's what these [athletic directors] are asking for," Williams said. "This is maybe not a situation where they can do it themselves, they might need some federal help."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Williams said that he has yet to discuss the issue with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) but that he would soon, and he expressed confidence that a bill could be considered in the current Congress.
"If we're going to come up with legislation, we need to come up with it, and I think that we can get some traction with it ... because it's something ... that all people are interested in, [and] we might be able to push something through that works," he said.