Next major college sports step? Power conferences throw support around House bill |
Brandon Rink
· · Tuesday, June 10 2025
Major college sports is on to its next agenda item, a bill getting passed through the United States Congress.
The NCAA v. House settlement was formally approved by a U.S. district judge late last week to formalize the long-agreed-upon changes to policies on directly paying athletes, roster numbers/scholarship limits and new governing bodies to police these new activities and more. With lawsuits abounding in college sports and more likely to come, the Power conferences in particular are looking to Congress for a national law to attempt to bring more stability to the landscape. The self-named Autonomy Conferences of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC announced their support Tuesday morning behind the latest in a series of attempts to do so with the SCORE act. Yahoo's Ross Dellenger reports that legislation was expected and there is a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee holding a hearing Thursday on the bill. Per a press release from the Autonomy leagues, here are the SCORE tenets: *Replacing the confusing patchwork of state NIL laws with a national standard ensuring all student-athletes are treated fairly, no matter where they play *Affirming student-athletes’ right to profit from their name, image, and likeness *Requiring academic support and ensuring access to mental health and well-being resources for student-athletes *Prohibiting student-athletes from being considered employees of an institution, conference, or athletic association *Protecting rules that serve the educational mission of college athletics The Athletic expounded on the goals in Congress action: *Fully deputize the Collegiate Sports Commission (or another entity) to enforce the settlement rules, such as requiring athletes disclose third-party name, image and likeness deals worth more than $600 and allow the prohibition of compensation that is not considered fair market value *Allow an entity to establish a revenue-sharing cap; the one instituted by the settlement begins at around $20 million for the 2025-26 academic year *Pre-empt state NIL laws with this national NIL law *Allow the NCAA, conferences or another entity to establish and enforce rules around transfers, eligibility length and the paying of recruits *Declare that college athletes are not employees *Require athlete agents to register with an entity such as the CSC or NCAA The Autonomy leagues issued the following statement: “This discussion draft comes at a time of historic transition for college athletics. In the absence of federal standards, student-athletes and schools have been forced to navigate a fractured regulatory framework for too long. Following the historic House settlement, this draft legislation represents a very encouraging step toward delivering the national clarity and accountability that college athletics desperately needs. We urge lawmakers to build on this momentum and deliver the national solution that athletes, coaches, and schools deserve.” This new bill was expected, as reported last week. It comes as the House Energy & Commerce subcommittee plans to hold a Congressional hearing on Thursday over the bill's concepts. ✍️ With the settlement done, Republicans in Congress will try to give the NCAA everything it wants.
A second House bill is expected soon as well. All quiet in the Senate.
A bill draft obtained by @TheAthletic would:
- Turn post-House rules into law
- Let the NCAA make rules on transfers
- Declare athletes not employeeshttps://t.co/aQdcFaNoZd
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