This view breaks the statement into its steps and names what each one does.
Mr. President, Anecdote · 55 wordsI don’t know about your family, but when mine gathers for Thanksgiving every year, regardless of political view, faith, politics, region, what brings us together is college sports. Somewhere between passing the turkey and catching up on each other’s lives, we turn on the TV, and, usually, there are a couple of games going on.Anecdote Procedure · 12 wordsThis points to something that I think is relevant at this moment: ProcedureClaims · 254 wordsCollege sports are uniquely American and help bring Americans together. More than 1,000 American colleges and universities have teams of all kinds, playing everything from soccer and rugby to rowing and badminton.1 Twenty years ago, a young quarterback named Joe Flacco played for the University of Delaware.2 He transferred there for the chance to become a starter and become part of a growing and winning team. He led the University of Delaware to the FCS championship.3 He set 20 school records, 4and then he went on to be the Super Bowl MVP with the Baltimore Ravens.5 Today, that story would not happen. Today, transfers to and from colleges, particularly in football, are happening at an unbelievable pace. My favorite team Notre Dame has played two other teams in the last 3 weeks wherein a majority of their players had just transferred in.6 We have heard from coaches and fans and players that this transfer portal being open endlessly without consequence, the cloud of agents hovering over and driving this behavior, the unreliability of coaches and their transferring in the middle of the season, and the lack of clear standards around eligibility--meaning, some as old as 27, 28, 29 go pro or play in Europe and then come back--has changed a lot of the core of the college sports experience. One of the real positives is that college student-athletes, after years of litigation, have won the right to their fair share of the significant revenue generated by a few college sports, mostly football and basketball; Reasoning · 37 wordsbut now that there are endless changes in transfer and eligibility and terms and conditions of play, college sports are in crisis. It doesn’t take a diehard sports fan to see that college sports are currently broken: Unearned certaintyClaims · 224 wordsthe collapse, the evaporation, of the Pac-12--one of the major conferences; an arms race to raise money and pay for players, for coaches, for facilities. This year, 70 of the schools in the Power 4 conferences will together generate over $7 billion in revenue from ads, from merchandise, from supporters, 7but they are all running at a deficit. In most universities, the model is this: If you have got a nationally prominent football team or basketball team that brings in a lot of revenue, that revenue pays for all of your other sports, the nonrevenue sports. Things like rugby or wrestling, rowing or track get supported in their facilities, in their coaches, in their training from the revenue of the big sports--football and basketball--that draw a lot of eyeballs and a lot of support. Now it is not working. Schools like the University of Delaware and Delaware State University have reached out to me to say they are spending more than they can sustain to recruit and retain talent, to develop their team, to invest in their facilities, and with student- athletes transferring every year, it is really hard to build a culture and to coach a team. So, to find the money to chase athletes, coaches, and facilities, universities have begun cutting sports, and they have begun with women’s sports and Olympic sports. Procedure · 5 wordsThere are so many examples.Procedure Claims · 31 wordsWashington State cut most of their track and field program.8 Georgia Tech eliminated swimming.9 Cal Poly cut back on swimming. Grand Canyon, a nationally ranked men’s volleyball program, has been eliminated.10 Procedure · 9 wordsI have a dozen more in front of me.Procedure Claims · 69 wordsWhen we lose these opportunities for college athletes, we lose something that is uniquely American. There are more than 500,000 college student-athletes, 11but in the rest of the world, this isn’t a thing. In Europe and in Asia, the experience of going to college, to a university, doesn’t include everybody coming into a huge stadium and cheering on their world-class basketball team or football team. That just doesn’t happen. Positioning · 9 wordsAnd what are the advantages of playing college sports?Positioning Claims · 27 wordsYou learn about resilience, about toughness, about team play, about strategy. In the United States, a majority of the women who are C-suite executives played college sports.12 Anecdote · 42 wordsI went to a small liberal arts college where a majority of the student body played a varsity sport, and it changed the culture of campus. It engaged all sides of a person to be able to compete athletically and excel academically.Anecdote Positioning · 38 wordsTo stem the current crisis in college sports, to stabilize the field, and to give us an opportunity to move forward, Senators Maria Cantwell and Ted Cruz--the chair and the ranking of the Commerce Committee--have worked tirelessly together.Positioning Thanks · 19 wordsOne of my main points today is to congratulate them and their staff for their amazing work on this.Thanks Claims · 31 wordsI have been honored to join with them and with Senator Schmitt in putting together and advancing the Protect College Sports Act. Last week, it got 77 votes in this Chamber, 13Positioning · 15 wordsand you might have noticed it is rare for there to be anything genuinely bipartisan.Positioning Aside · 37 wordsIn the State of Iowa--and I note my colleague has just joined me, and I will conclude in a few minutes here--when there is a game between the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes, that is a big weekend.Aside Claims · 15 wordsIn many of the States in our country, college football contests are bigger than elections, Procedure · 47 wordsand in some ways, as I said at the beginning, that is a welcome diversion from the work we do here. I wanted to briefly explain my focus in working on negotiating this bill and why I strongly support it and think it is a great outcome.Procedure Reasoning · 28 wordsI looked at it as if I had a child who was playing college sports. What would I want them to get in terms of protection? compensation? transparency? Claims · 157 wordsThis bill enshrines the name, image, likeness--or NIL-- compensation in law. The court settlement that college athletes currently have, it makes it statutory, and it adds another fund--so, in total, $43 million--for the biggest programs to recruit and to retain.14 There is a dedicated $5 million fund for Olympic and women’s sports.15 This is not public money from the U.S. Congress. This is money that has been raised and administered by State universities and by major colleges. It protects student-athletes from predatory agents. It requires that they be registered and certified, that there be an accessible database of NIL agreements, and that they charge no more than a 5-percent fee.16 Right now, with the gold rush of NIL, there are folks claiming their agents are showing up at the doors of standout high school athletes in rural parts of our country and selling them a bill of goods. This would protect college athletes. It guarantees the scholarships. Positioning · 32 wordsHow many times have you heard the story of someone who accepted an offer to play at a leading school because they were going to get to go to college for free?Positioning Claims · 151 wordsAfter playing half a season, they get injured, and they lose their scholarship or they decide to leave the sport or they decide to pick a different class or major than the coach wants. This guarantees, for 10 years, the opportunity to learn and study based on the scholarship offer made by a university.17 If you are hurt on the field, the decision about return to play has to be made by medical personnel whose professional responsibility is to the player and can’t be overruled by coaches. Lastly--and I thought this was incredible--is wraparound healthcare coverage while in school; 5 years of postgraduate coverage for any sports-related injuries and a lifetime medical trust for any serious injury that develops later in life, like brain trauma or brain injury.18 These protections are available for all NCAA student-athletes--all, a half a million, not just the few in the highest visibility, highest revenue programs.19 Procedure · 11 wordsSo there are a few things that aren’t in this bill.Procedure Claims · 159 wordsIt keeps the door open for future collective bargaining. It does provide a new private right of action--the opportunity to sue, to protect yourself and enforce your rights that are created under this statute.20 And there is a new student-athlete ombudsman to make sure that athletes understand their rights and how to pursue their remedies.21 This bill will bring stability to a collapsing college sports system. No more conference chaos. No more coaches transferring midseason. And it will make for stronger teams where athletes know each other, and the coaches and the fans know who they are coaching and who they are cheering for. Look, most of the more than half a million NCAA athletes will never go pro, but they need to get and use their college degree. They will potentially suffer lasting physical consequences of their play, and this protects them and protects their future. By putting boundaries around transfers and eligibility, this bill stabilizes college sports. Positioning · 65 wordsIn conclusion, it is rare to find an issue that brings together tens of millions of Americans and that brings together Democrats and Republicans in this body. This isn’t about political party or even what team you cheer for. It is about the future of young Americans who will engage and entertain and motivate all of us as we watch them throughout the year compete, PositioningClaims · 5 wordsbut it will also protect. Promise · 53 wordsSo my hope is that we will pass this bill before we adjourn because it will strengthen the path to college through sports. When our families gather at Thanksgiving this year, I hope the conversation is about the bright future of American college sports, which have been protected by a strong bipartisan compromise. Procedure · 4 wordsI yield the floor.Procedure
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