Efforts to reform college sports in the United States remained uncertain as fall arrived, with the two most thorough attempts each struggling to find enough backing in Congress due to their different priorities.
The SCORE Act, introduced in July with a hint of bipartisanship, would give the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption — targeted to shield the nation’s largest sanctioning body for college sports from potential lawsuits against eligibility rules — and would bar athletes from becoming employees of their schools.
The SAFE Act, introduced by Democratic lawmakers last month, focuses on allowing conferences to pool their broadcast rights. Proponents say the move could bring extra billions to an industry that needs cash to finance a new era in which schools can pay players.
The most significant similarity between SCORE and SAFE is that both bills would preempt state laws regarding name, image and likeness payments that have been allowed since July 2021. States have different laws regarding NIL, which can put teams in the same conference under different rules.
Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey called the “state preemption” provision a common sense solution that allows athletes to “know that the opponent is playing by the same rules” no matter what state they compete in.