The Speaker’s Lobby: Legislation on college sports relegated to the JV

Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines delivers opening remarks on Capitol Hill about protecting women's sports.

There are college football teams that are going somewhere in their quest for a national title. Think Michigan, Alabama, Washington and Texas.

And then there are those who aren’t.

Kent State, Vanderbilt, Akron and the University of Louisiana-Monroe. They were among the worst Division I college football teams in 2023.

Legislation is kind of like football teams. Some bills are headed to the Sugar Bowl. Other bills struggle like Kent State, bound for political oblivion.

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So where does legislation fall to regulate how intercollegiate athletes use their name, image and likeness (NIL)?

A trophy and banner displayed during the NCAA Division III women's ice hockey championship at Kenyon Arena March 19, 2022, in Middlebury, Vt. (Nancie Battaglia/NCAA Photos)

Bills to govern NILs are kind of the "mid-majors" of legislation. They aren’t the Big Ten or the SEC. It’s a little bit like the Mid-American Conference or Atlantic Ten.

The bill may become law. It may not.

And this is what worries some when it comes to Congress legislating NILs.

The rules are clear on the field for NCAA sports. But things are vague when it comes to regulating NILs as student-athletes monetize themselves.

The NCAA — being the NCAA — found itself unable to establish a nationwide criterion to address NILs. So it asked Congress to get involved.

"There's got to be rules so that you don't have just the wild west," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. "It’s going to take bipartisan agreement, and we're not there yet. But we're making real progress."

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