Transcripts For CSPAN3 Hearing On College Athlete Compensati

College athletes ability to earn money from endorsements. They spoke at a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing. Good morning, everyone. The committee the subcommittee will come to order. Were honored to have the chairman with us this morning, and i expect senator blumenthal to join us momentarily. As chairman of this subcommittee with jurisdiction over amateur athletics i welcome all of you to todays hearing entitled name, image, likeness, the state of intercollegiate compensation. The expectation or hope is that we might limit ourselves to that kuip of conversation but i have no control over my colleagues or what the witnesses may say that may take us broader in scope. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses. Im appreciative of all of them being here but especially the chancellor of my alma mater the university of kansas, the president of the collegiate Athletic Association and two former student athletes. In my home state we have a rich history of College Athletics. The womens soccer team won their first title last year. In my hometown of Manhattan College football at kansas staet university and a legacy continued by the current coach and Athletic Director gene taylor and who can forget the run at the ncaa in 2013. In addition to kansas city in addition, kansas city was the headquarters for the ncaa before moving to indianapolis. Senator young is not here but i would remind the ncaa we would welcome them back to kansas city at any time. While division i schools often come to mind in my view we cannot lose sight over the 1,000 colleges and universities across three divisions included in the ncaa. In kansas we have Impressive Division ii at pitt state who won four dii titles in 2011 and newman and washburn. I hope that in this conversation that those schools and their athletes are not forgotten. There are nearly 500,000 student athletes that compete in 24 different sports. The ncaas considerable financial restrictions tied to eligibility has gained heated debate in recent years. How student athletes are restricted from profiting from their name, image or likeness to supplement scholarships and related benefits they receive. These debates have resulted in state legislatures taking their own actions. In california the fair pay to play act was signed into law last september and will prohibit california universities from preventing them using their name and likeness. Coming into effect in 2023 the law will allow student athletes to hire agents and other representation. Following suit legislation has been introduced in over 20 other states with more expected to follow raising the concerns of organizations and to function within a system of differing state laws. The ncaa began to take steps to address the debate over profiting from their name, image and likeness to potential modification that is allow a clear demarcation between professional and amateur athletics and still aligned with the general student body. The working group is expected to issue recommendations with new rules implemented in 2021. Understanding how state and name, image and likeness would affect the athletic system is critical in shaping congressefforts on this issue. Some of the complexities are third party agents, current definition of amateurism and allowable incentives. As we will hear today College Athletes excuse me, College Athletics teaches young men and women many values and skills but the most important aspect is that they are first a student athlete athlete. They have higher Graduation Rates than nonathletes which is significant because less than 2 go on to become professional athletes. It is important that actions by congress do not hurt student athletes. Joining us today to provide different perspectives is the commissioner of the big 12 conference, dr. Mark emerit, president of the Athletic Association, dr. Douglas jerrod, chancellor of the university of kansas, the executive director of the Players Association and former ucla student athlete and mr. Spencer chair of the ncaa Student Athlete Advisory Committee and former university of new mexico track student athlete. Were honored to be joined by football student athlete and representing the 16th district of ohio, anthony gonzalez. The advocacy for this issue is highly valued by the subcommittee. I thank him for his willingness to join us today and present an Opening Statement. With the conclusion of my Opening Statement i turn to the Ranking Member senator blumenthal for his. Thank you so much, chairman moran. I want to express my special appreciation to you and to chairman wicker who is with us as well as to Ranking Member cantwell for addressing an issue that i think will grow in importance already as preoccupied the minds and hearts of many who are interested in College Athletics and the future of the great individuals who participate in College Sports and we are now holding the senates first ever hearing on compensating College Athletes. Thanks for advancing a number of very promising ideas which i hope we will take into account in our work. We have a highly significant opportunity today to better understand how we can protect College Athletes while promoting intercollegiate sports. Our College Athletes fuel the 14 billion industry that literally makes money for countless companies and agents and almost nothing for the athletes themselves. They should receive equitable compensation for their hard work and the value that they create. College athletes are being taken advantage of by a Financial Model allowing to profit off athletesnames, images and likenesses without allowing those athletes to receive any compensation in return. College athletes risk their health and safety to play these sports. In return their compensation is capped at the cost of attending their college or university. Athletes are not even guaranteed to have costs for sports related injuries be covered by their schools and can have their scholarships revoked in the event of a college and career ending injury. The system is deeply unfair, repugnant to the very ideals the colleges so actively espouse and inherently flawed as an economic matter and marred with inconsistencies. Only these students are able to monetize their skill by working such as music students who teach budding musicians or math majors who Tutor High School students, College Athletes receive no renumeration, no compensation, no financial recognition at all. That has to change. We are here to hear from some of the experts and to begin this consideration the kinds of egregious unfairness are multiple. We know well College Coaches are paid multimillion dollar salaries outpacing the pay of many Corporate Executives and almost all the teachers, many of the College Coaches rank as the highest paid Public Employee in 41 out of 50 states. When universities are not turning their coaches into millionaires they pump millions into lavish new athletic facilities. In fact, tens of millions of dollars that can cost upwards of 130 million. In short, everyone is profiting off the fame, image, likeness and accomplishments of College Athletes except for the athletes themselves and its during a period when their prowess and, in effect, earning capacity may be at one of its heights. Amateurism cannot be a means to monopolize College Athleticism for lucrative media deals. I hope that states like the california fair pay to play act will be part of our consideration consideration. Among other things these laws provide new opportunities for women athletes who have less athletes who have less professional sports options after college than men. And i look forward to continues this work because we have a responsibility especially in the absence of leadership elsewhere. But i hope there will be leadership. I hope the ncaa will take advantage of the real opportunity to do right by hundreds of thousands of athletes across the country whose talents generate billions and im glad that the ncaa is taking necessary steps to update its policies and i look forward to hearing as to new rules to compensate athletes for their name, image and likeness. Fundamental fairness is at stake here. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. You and i i look forward to working with you on this and we have a habit of responding to california legislation. I think we can do it one more time. Or maybe in both instances. I recognize senator wicker. He and his staff have been instrumental and supportive of our efforts to bringing this hearing to fruition this morning. Well, thank you very much, chairman moran and Ranking Member blue menmenthal. I think we see by the size of the crowd and the attention this hearing is receiving that were on to something very important and very timely. I dont know how i feel about this issue, purchasemr. Chairman. I dont know where its going to lead. I do not disagree with anything that the chair or senator blumenthal have said during their Opening Statements. Weve got a situation where states are moving forward and we need to address the issue. Im as proud of my States History of Intercollegiate Athletics as senator moran is and pointed out in his Opening Statement. And if senator blumenthal had taken the time to do so, he could have pointed to great accomplishments in connecticut, also. Many College Athletes come from middle class families, as i did, who could scrape together the funds and pay for a College Education on their own if they had to. But for many collegiate athletes, male and female, in football, basketball, or some of the other sports that are not quite so popular, its the first opportunity for that family to get out of poverty, to go to college. To grab a rung on the ladder of economic success, and certainly the legislation in california and the legislation being proposed elsewhere recognizes that theres been a disparity there that ought to be addressed. I agree it ought to be address the. Name, image and likeness perhaps is the answer. I wonder, senator blumenthal, if it is the answer in all cad gories of intercategories of intercollegiate sports and with the help of the ncaa and the help of states to help us figure out the fairest way to make sure that no one is left out and that the athletes that do contribute to this 14 billion per year economy are given their fair share in bringing this largesse to our universities. I agree with you, mr. Chairman, also, we could get into other issues. I had another hearing just a few days ago dealing with doping, and we learned theres a problem with athletics with doping. Im going to stay away from that today. I hope that members up and down the dias will heed your admonition that we have a specific topic to talk about today. I dont know where this is going to lead but i believe its an important step and the chair and the Ranking Member are due kudos kudos. I yield back. Thank you for your leadership and your hearing last week. Representative anthony gonzalez, a member of the house of representatives from ohio with a history regarding being a student athlete. Thank you. Chairman wicker, Ranking Member blumenthal and members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to speak on this timely topic. I know firsthand the impact College Sports has on our students, athletes and communities across the country. For me my time playing for ohio state shaped my life and appreciation for the lessons i learned on and off the field grows every day. College athletics has a way of doing that. College sports provided the best and only opportunity to attend college and earn a degree. That said College Sports has morphed into an enterprise that few could have imagined when the ncaa first formed in 1906. College athletics generated more than 10 billion in revenue in 2018. Student athletes are still barred from capitalizing off their name, image and likeness. This is a regulation unique to student athletes on college campuses. An Award Winning scholarship chemist may accept any awards but the fastest runner on the track team cannot. The majority of student athletes are facing the same intense financial pressures including student loan debt. Outside of the high revenue sports the majority do not receive full tuition scholarships. Division iii receive no athletic scholarships at all. What would empower the athletes to make a few extra dollars to alleviate financial pressure. It is this disparity that spurred the passage of the fair pay to play act. While i agree with the idea in principle, californias law fails to capture the nuance to get this right. An approach would throw the athletic system into chaos, it would undermine competition of schools from different states. As it stands ucla and arizona state, pac 12 members, are on unequal footing because of the California Law. Students now have an added outside incentive to pick ucla, the ability to benefit. A patchwork of state laws to become the norm. The California Law created an anything goes system that fails to understand the realities of the hyper competitive recruiting process. Guardrails are crucial to protecting the integrity of the game and student athletes from overzealous boosters who may want to buy their way to the next national championship. The California Law did get one thing right t. Forced the discussion into the National Conversation and compelled the universities and conferences to confront the reality headon. Ive talked to student athletes, the ncaa and administrators. Despite uncertainty on the right past poured there is consensus something must be done. Over 20 additional states are in the process of passing different nil laws. The question is not should they be able to profit off nil. That question has been answered. The question before us today is how to prevent state by state chaos and protect the system beloved across the nation . First, the system must permit to capitalize on rights whether or not they participate in football or pitch for the softball team. Nil will benefit players but athletes who want to earn a little money to pay off Student Loans or take their significant other on a date. They must penalize those who seek to take advantage by expanding upon existing protections we can deter bad actors and promote transparency so universities are aware of the nil contracts their students are ending into. Third, any legislation must also guarantee student athletes are still considered students not employees of an institution. Important protections would be completely eradicated. If a student athlete can be hired, he or she can be fired. From personal experience i can tell you that Incoming Freshman recruits do not live up to expectations. Firing these students instead of investing in their development would reduce countless opportunities, in many cases the only opportunity. The train has left the station on nil. It is no longer a question of if but when and how. Congress must act to preserve the collegiate sports system we know and love. For those reasons i have begun to draft federal legislation in the house to allow student athletes to profit from their nil and create one national standard. I look forward to hearing from the witnesses on this issue and working with my colleagues in the senate to find a bipartisan solution to the challenge before us today. Thank you for the opportunity to provide a statement. Representative, thank you very much for your statement. We appreciate your interest in this topic, and you bring a particular expertise both on the field and now in congress. We look forward to getting this ride. Thank you. Well now call the panel of witnesses to the table. The commissioner of big 12 conference, dr. Mark emert, collegiate Athletic Associationassociation, the executive director of National College Players Association, and mr. Spencer, former chair Student Athletic Advisory Committee National Collegiate Athletic Association. Welcome to all of you. Well begin when ready. Good morning. Chairman moran, Ranking Member blumenthal, chairman wicker, distinguished members of the subcommittee, on behalf of the big 12 conference and its members i thank you for holding this hearing and providing me with this opportunity to testify. I believe in the extraordinary opportunities our colleges, universities provide to our nation and the world. I also believe in the american model as a cocurricular activity on our campuses. I have worked in athletics for more than 40 years because i believe that the fundamental purpose is to help 18yearold adolescents become 22yearold adults and in the process to provide an opportunity fo