Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives pulled a bill scheduled for a final vote on Wednesday, Dec. 3 that would have allowed the NCAA and its newly-formed College Sports Commission to create and enforce national rules that have been under legal dispute in recent years.
The SCORE Act (Student Compensation And Opportunity Through Rights and Endorsements) sought to provide more regulation and calm the chaotic environment created by the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation, revenue sharing and the transfer portal to college sports. It passed a procedural vote on Tuesday, 210-209, but the legislation drew bipartisan backlash as a final vote neared.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and the Congressional Black Caucus were among the vocal critics, and issues with how the bill infringed on athletes’ rights inspired competing legislation from House Democrats earlier this week. The move to pull the SCORE Act by House GOP leaders about two hours before it was originally slated for a final vote was seen as a sign it no longer had enough support to pass.
‘The SCORE Act was pulled from consideration because it simply didn’t have the votes, a clear sign that Members on both sides saw it for what it was: a gift to the NCAA and the Power Two conferences at the expense of athletes. This bill would have imposed new restrictions on athletesm, while doing nothing to address the real instability in college athletics.,’ Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) wrote in a social media post after the vote was scuttled.
The proposed bill, which was introduced in July by members of both parties with backing from leaders of three House committees, would permit the NCAA to set a cap on how much schools can spend on NIL deals and parameters for the manner in which athletes transfer, so long as they can transfer at least once and be immediately eligible.
Other aspects of the proposed bill would put into law the fair-market-value assessment of athletes’ NIL deals with entities other than schools provided under the House vs. NCAA settlement and allow universities to prevent athletes from having NIL deals that conflict with school sponsorship deals. The bill also notably prevents athletes from becoming employees of their universities and shields the NCAA, the Commission, conferences and schools from antitrust and state-court lawsuits that could come from rules.
The NCAA has lobbied for Congressional antitrust provisions throughout the past decade as its regulations over athlete compensation and transfer eligibility were challenged and eventually changed by state legislatures and lawsuits.
‘The SCORE Act (college sports) is well-intended but falls short and is not ready for prime time. I will vote no,’ Roy wrote in a lengthy social media post explaining his position and decrying the current state of college sports. ‘Putting aside the process problems (we should have been able to amend) … there are lots of legitimate concerns and questions.’
The House vote on Wednesday was slated to occur the same week Trahan (D-Mass.), a former Division-I volleyball player, also announced plans to introduce a competing bill modeled after a recent Senate proposal with federal standards for NIL rights and the pooling of media rights, in addition to the creation of a bipartisan Commission to Stabilize College Sports with a two-year timeline to develop recommendations for an enduring governance model.
‘Despite years of intense lobbying from the most powerful institutions in college athletics, Congress is increasingly divided on how to address the challenges threatening the industry,’ Trahan said in a news release that proved prophetic a couple days later.