Manchin introduces legislation to tackle NIL in college athletics

Jul. 25—MORGANTOWN — On Tuesday, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced the Protecting Athletes, Schools and Sports (PASS) Act. The bipartisan legislation aims to protect student-athletes, maintain fair competition and compensation, strengthen transparency and preserve the "time-honored tradition of college sports " by providing a national standard for name, image and likeness (NIL) in college athletics.

"As a former college athlete, I know how important sports are to gaining valuable life skills and opening doors of opportunity. However, in recent years, we have faced a rapidly evolving NIL landscape without guidelines to navigate it, which jeopardizes the health of the players and the educational mission of colleges and universities, " said Manchin, a former college quarterback at WVU. "Our bipartisan legislation strikes a balance between protecting the rights of student-athletes and maintaining the integrity of college sports. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to consider this commonsense legislation as a way to level the playing field in college athletics."

According to a release, the PASS Act would do seven things—protect student-athletes, protect higher education institutions, preserve the future of college sports by prohibiting inducements, improve the transparency of NIL activities, moderate the transfer portal, ensure the health and safety of student-athletes and strengthen enforcement and oversight.

Specifically, the act would require collectives and boosters to be affiliated with a college, establish a national standard for NIL, preserve Title IX, prohibit NIL agreements that involve alcohol or drugs and require student-athletes to ask permission to make use of existing intellectual property. The act would also guarantee health insurance for sports-related injuries for uninsured student-athletes for eight years following graduation from a four-year institution and require institutions to honor the original scholarship commitment made to a student-athlete regardless of injury or NIL contract.

For transparency, agents and collectives would be required to register with a regulating body, a public-facing website would be created to publish anonymized NIL data and all NIL contracts would be disclosed within 30 days.

For the transfer portal, student-athletes would be required to complete their first three years of academic eligibility before being allowed to transfer without penalty. Exceptions include a coach leaving or being fired or the death of a family member.

NIL compensation for student-athletes was decided in the 2021 supreme court case National Collegiate Athletics Association v. Alston. In June of that year, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors announced an interim policy suspending its rules relating to NIL compensation until federal legislation is enacted or until the NCAA adopts new rules.

In 2022 Manchin and Tuberville, a former college football head coach at Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech and Cincinnati, began soliciting feedback from athletic leaders, university athletic directors, administrators, associations, collectives and student-athlete groups to build consensus around their bipartisan legislation.

"Student-athletes should be able to take advantage of NIL promotional activities without impacting their ability to play collegiate sports, " Tuberville said. "But we need to ensure the integrity of our higher education system, remain focused on education, and keep the playing field level. Our legislation with Senator Manchin will set basic rules nationwide, protect our student-athletes, and keep NIL activities from ending college sports as we know it."

The introduction of NIL and the transfer portal had an immediate effect on WVU athletics. The football team lost high-profile starters such as Tykee Smith, Akheem Mesidor and Kaden Prather while the men's basketball team saw underclassman Oscar Tshiebwe transfer to the University of Kentucky and win the 2022 Wooden Award as the best player in the nation.

"We love and celebrate collegiate athletics, but the landscape has changed dramatically as schools and student-athletes are now forced to navigate a patchwork of inconsistent regulations regarding Name, Image and Likeness, " WVU President Gordon Gee said in a statement. "This is not sustainable. That is why I am so glad for Sen. Manchin's leadership and encourage Congress to provide the necessary direction at the federal level to create a pathway for establishing a common set of ground rules related to NIL, as well as setting guard rails around the transfer portal."

At the Big 12 football media days earlier this month, league commissioner Brett Yormark said he and administrators from other conferences had been meeting with Congress on NIL legislation.

"The Big 12 Conference commends Senator Joe Manchin and Senator Tommy Tuberville for their collaboration to introduce legislation that establishes a national standard to govern student-athletes' use of their name, image and likeness and other important issues, " the Big 12 Conference said in a statement. "Their understanding of the challenges facing intercollegiate athletics provides an essential framework to preserve the integrity of fair competition. We remain committed to working with lawmakers in the House and Senate to arrive at a legislative solution that preserves college athletics and provides a uniform NIL standard."

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