WASHINGTON – Sen. Ted Cruz said Tuesday there is a 50-50 chance that Congress will pass legislation providing antitrust protection and regulation to college athletics in the United States by the end of the year.
Cruz (R-Texas) lowered his estimate to 60-40 from last fall for a bill to be passed before the November election, saying he and his counterparts are running out of time.
“The clock is ticking,” Cruz said after overseeing a panel on the topic that included former Alabama coach Nick Saban. “It's not too late to do it, but we're getting closer to being too late to do it. I still think there are elements to a bipartisan agreement. We just haven't been able to get everyone to the table to sign.”
Cruz said something will eventually be done to standardize how athletes can be compensated for their names, images and likenesses and to give the NCAA and conferences the ability to govern college sports without the constant threat of lawsuits and undermining state laws. his authority.
The meeting was not an official hearing, but at the same time the House held the 12th hearing on college sports on Capitol Hill since 2020. This was held in front of the Education and Workforce Committee and focused on the possibility for university athletes to join unions.
But Cruz's roundtable with Saban, Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner Jim Phillips and Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne stole the show. Also in attendance were Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
Moran and Blumenthal introduced a bipartisan proposal for a college sports bill last summer, but, like several efforts before and since, it has gone nowhere.
“Most of the time we were telling each other, 'We're so close to accomplishing something,' but it's been going on for a long time,” Moran said, pleading with interested parties to provide feedback on what they can give and receive. “This is the time to strike. Please help us close that gap and get it done.”
NCAA President Charlie Baker has encouraged members to act on their own, introducing a proposal in December that would create a new Division I level where schools would have to pay some of their athletes.
The Big Ten and Southeastern Conference, the two richest and most powerful conferences, formed a joint advisory committee earlier this year to try to address issues facing college sports.
Saban, who led Alabama football to six national titles in 17 seasons, said the current landscape shaped by NIL funding and looser transfer rules contributed to his decision to retire at age 72.
“All the things I believed in for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics,” Saban said. “Whoever wants to pay the most money, raise the most money, buy the most players will have the best chance to win. And I don't think that's the spirit of college athletics, and I don't think it ever has been the spirit. of what we want college athletics to be.
Also participating in the roundtable were NIL attorney Darren Heitner, Collective Association President Russell White, as well as current college basketball player Haley Cavinder and her sister Hanna, a former player.
Other senators were concerned, including Joe Manchin (DW.Va.), who said he believes the status quo “is going to destroy the student-athlete as we know it.”
Byrne warned that even a school as prestigious as Alabama might have to cut non-revenue sports, depending on what the ultimate answer is for paying athletes.
Cruz, citing comments made by commissioners of conferences made up of historically black colleges and universities and concerns about the closure of Division II and Division III programs, does not believe there is as much interest in classifying college athletes as employees. like six months ago.
“There are very few people now advocating for student-athletes as employees,” Cruz said. “I think when there's widespread agreement that that's the wrong solution, it's easier to have some clarity on that point.”
Last week, Dartmouth men's basketball players voted to join a union, and several active antitrust lawsuits are challenging the NCAA's compensation limits and whether athletes should have employee status.
Baker said last month that Congress needed to act to protect what he described as the “95%” of athletes whose ability to play college sports would be jeopardized by a court ruling or regulatory decision declaring them employees of their schools. The NCAA and Power 5 conferences spent a combined $2.97 million on lobbying efforts in 2023, according to records reviewed by The Associated Press.
Work has been underway for several years to find a solution to what Cruz called the current “Wild West” state of college and NCAA athletics.
Cruz, who last summer introduced a bill to address the problems, prefers empowering the NCAA to oversee the landscape rather than creating a new government or quasi-government agency.
Cruz said he felt an urgency to approve something as soon as possible and found agreement on that point among his colleagues, given the current state of confusion in college sports.
“No one really likes the direction we're going right now,” Moran said. “I think we're close. We're very close and we have to get it done.”
