Congressional hearing targets 'NIL chaos' in college sports

A congressional hearing Wednesday targeting «NIL chaos» in college sports drifted into the ramifications of athletes being deemed employees of their schools and mostly highlighted those who support congressional intervention to protect the collegiate model.

A subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held the first hearing related to college sports on Capitol Hill in more than two years.

The intended focus was name, image and likeness compensation for athletes. College sports leaders have been calling for help in the form of a federal law to bring uniform regulation to the way athletes can earn money off their fame with sponsorship or endorsement deals.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis (Fla.-R), the chairman of the subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce, said passing a federal NIL law that would pre-empt existing state laws would provide clarity and transparency for athletes.

«The lack of uniformity across different states and institutions has created confusion and uncertainty and a federal standard is needed, so all athletes are playing by the same rules,» Bilirakis said. «In short, we must strike a delicate balance between the rights of college athletes to profit from their own NIL while keeping the amateur status for all college athletes.»

Seven previous hearings have been held in the House and Senate, but lawmakers have made no significant progress toward passing a college sports bill since the topic first started gaining attention.

The latest hearing was held days before the Final Four in the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments were set to be played in Texas.

Lawmakers questioned six witnesses for nearly three hours. They heard from two college sports administrators, the president of a Division