College athlete hiring law moves forward

A congressional committee voted Thursday to move forward with a bill that would prevent college athletes from being considered employees of schools, conferences or the NCAA.

The vote in the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce represents the first tangible signs of progress the college sports industry has made in its years-long push for a federal law to help reshape college sports. . It comes just weeks after the NCAA and its power conferences announced they have agreed to share significantly more revenue with athletes as part of an antitrust lawsuit settlement.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Bob Good (R-Virginia) on the same day the antitrust settlement was announced, is in the early stages of the legislative process. It is likely to face opposition from Democrats in the Senate as well as legal challenges if passed.

The NCAA is currently a defendant in numerous ongoing lawsuits arguing that college athletes should be afforded employee rights. A federal court case — Johnson v. NCAA — is seeking minimum wage and other workplace protections for college athletes. Two other active cases before the National Labor Relations Board are seeking to give college athletes the right to form unions and bargain collectively.

NCAA President Charlie Baker said earlier this week that he hoped the latest antitrust settlement, if upheld by a judge, would provide the framework for a college sports model that allows schools to compensate their athletes without repaying them. in employees. Baker said he doesn’t believe most college athletes want to be considered employees.

“A lot of the conversations I’ve had with people in Congress are, ‘The reason we’re interested in employment is because of the compensation issue,'” Baker said earlier this week. “If the court blesses [the antitrust settlement]then it puts us in a position where we can go to Congress and say that one of the three branches of the federal government blessed this as a model to create compensation without incentivizing employment.”

The NCAA and power conferences have lobbied Congress for laws that would limit their legal liability and prevent athletes from being employees for the past several years. College sports leaders say these laws are necessary to preserve the many teams and athletic departments that cannot afford to pay their athletes as workers. Both the NCAA and power conferences have publicly stated their support for Good’s bill.

The bill is intended to be a narrow piece of a broader package of federal legislation that guarantees more benefits to athletes in the future, preventing them from being employees. However, no partner bill that would guarantee athletes’ benefits has yet been introduced.

The Workforce and Education Committee voted 23-16 to move forward with the bill. All 23 votes in favor came from Republicans. All 16 votes against came from Democrats. The debate over whether Congress should weigh in on the college sports business model has been a partisan one for the past several years.

Democrats in the House and Senate have previously co-sponsored bills that would have the opposite effect of Good’s bill — codifying college athletes’ right to unionize. Those lawmakers and other advocates say athletes need the ability to bargain collectively to make sure they can negotiate for things like improved medical care and a fair share of the money they generate for a multibillion-dollar industry. .

Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) — a former college volleyball player who has been an active participant in the Capitol Hill debate over the future of college sports — said she will vote against Good’s bill if it reaches floor of the Chamber.

“Once again, Republicans in Congress have decided to push legislation to limit the rights of college athletes with little or no input from the athletes themselves,” Trahan said in a statement after Thursday’s vote.

If passed, Good’s bill would halt ongoing efforts by the NLRB and Johnson v. The NCAA’s case for making athletes employees. Paul McDonald, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Johnson case, said he believes the law as written would violate federal equal protection laws. McDonald said it’s against the law to prevent some college students from being employees while others in that category — like cafeteria workers or teaching assistants — are allowed to earn wages and join unions.

“If approved, [the bill] would never survive a court challenge. To understand, it’s a waste of time,” McDonald said in a statement provided to ESPN after Thursday’s vote. “Dilatory tactics have consequences. The only thing the NCAA has accomplished in unnecessarily delaying the recognition of college athletes as hourly employees like their student counterparts is significantly increasing the cost of settlement borne by its membership.”

In a press release issued before Thursday’s vote, Good said his bill was intended to ensure that the tradition of college sports is not “destroyed by the reclassification of student athletes as employees.”

“My legislation will help maintain a balance between athletics and academics, ensuring that college athletic programs remain viable, beneficial and enjoyable for all student-athletes,” he said.