Discussion · Senate
Maria Cantwell Democrat
“I want the Senate to pass this bill tonight. It gives college athletes a legal right to make money from their name and image, and it guarantees them a share of ticket sales and TV money. It also protects athlete health, gives them medical coverage for five years after college, and caps agent fees. Right now, most top college sports programs are deep in debt. Schools are raising tuition and cutting academic classes to fund expensive sports programs. This bill sets fair spending rules. It protects women's and Olympic sports from being cut, limits how much public school money can go to coaches' pay, and gives money to historically Black colleges to upgrade their broadcast networks.”
“Madam President, I know the floor has been busy this afternoon with people discussing the Protect College Sports Act, and I want to thank all my colleagues for participating in a debate. That is what this institution is supposed to be about. It is supposed to be about an amendment process, and it is supposed to be about a product that comes out of committee, and it is supposed to be about our colleagues showing up. So I want to thank my colleagues, particularly Senator Booker and Senator Murphy, who came to the floor to express their views on this bill. I want to thank both of them. You know, I certainly agree with Senator Murphy on his long-standing effort to think about collective bargaining in college sports. He has been very outspoken on that for many years. And I want to thank Senator Booker for working with me for many, many years on this issue, and that doesn’t mean that he still doesn’t have reservations, but it means that he is committed to this issue writ large. But we do see a different conclusion here tonight. And I want to thank my colleagues for passing a bill out of committee and now getting it to this threshold because, unlike my colleagues’ comments before, there are several things in this bill that are really important to enshrine into Federal law at this time. First and foremost, the Federal right to NIL and making sure that it is not State laws that have been quite onerous on athletes--that is, laws that say if you conflict with your university, your university wins and if you conflict with other issues, you don’t get NIL. So creating a Federal standard is very important. But compensation on revenue sharing is probably the most important thing we could possibly enshrine in Federal law today. This is saying, for the first time, that an athlete gets a percentage of the media rights, the ticket sales, and the sponsorship. That has not been said before in a court case decision. It was agreed to in a settlement agreement--in a settlement agreement called Grant House v. NCAA. Now, that settlement agreement has had its ups and downs, and I hope it prevails, but I know this: We can put into Federal law that enshrinement so that the Senate is clear. My colleagues have said: Why do this now? Well, because there was a difference of opinion, and even Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in the decision of NCAA v. Alston by the Supreme Court, said: Yes, I think athletes deserve a recognition of revenue, but Congress could step in and change that. And my colleagues may know that the House of Representatives did try to change that. The House of Representatives did try to pass a bill that said: No, they don’t deserve revenue sharing. They don’t deserve revenue sharing. That is the bill the House came very close to passing. And so tonight, we are taking a monumental step that I agree that maybe not all 100 people agree on, but I think the majority of our colleagues agree on these two principles that the Supreme Court also has spoken to, but that we are now putting in a Federal law because, as Brett Kavanaugh said, Congress could change its mind. Congress could do something differently. But tonight, we are speaking. We believe in these two things. We also believe in a health and safety standard in Federal law, one that protects the athletes beyond the way the law works today and gives them the right to sue and hold these people accountable for any kind of health and safety violations. This is something that my colleagues Senator Blumenthal and Senator Booker and I and others worked on diligently, and we want to continue to make sure it is enshrined in this statute. And then medical coverage for 5 years post-eligibility and capping agents’ fees at 5 percent. So my colleagues have said: Why do this? Why do this now? Well, that is because 94 percent of the DI--that is the biggest division of athletes; there are three divisions, and then other associations--94 percent of those DI programs are in the red. So that is a pretty big issue. And the reason why it is so frustrating is there are four schools just in the State of Virginia that are putting exorbitant tuition fees on their students just to pay for college education. There are people that are cutting science programs, cutting professors, cutting other programs just to pay for college sports when, in reality, we need all those to beat China and compete--and not have an arms race in sports. So right now, the median debt for schools in the Big Four conferences--their median debt is $120 million. What are they doing? Now, I know everybody would like to blame it on coaches, and I guarantee you there are a few coaches that need to get called out. But the main reason for this is not because we are paying athletes. It is not because we have all agreed that they deserve to have part of this revenue. This number exists because there are no sound rules that prohibit an arms race from taking place and people who are billionaires and millionaires putting any amount of money into their school program. And our bill fixes that and creates rules across the board for everyone to follow, so that we don’t have this exorbitant arms race. Now, I will be the first to admit there is more to do on stadiums. There is more to do on other aspects of spending college sports. But we need to pass a bill tonight because we need to stop stealing money out of college and university institutions for education, for tuition, for professors, and putting it into an arms race on sports. It is time to make sports about playing sports again and not about the money. So this bill stops the cuts to women’s and Olympic sports. Why? Because who is paying the bill right now? The No. 1 person paying the bill is a hundred programs and a thousand women and Olympic athletes because they don’t make money, so the easiest way to save money in an institution is to cut them right now. And so we are trying to stop that. Our legislation says, yes, we are willing to give the college teams an antitrust exemption to pool their media rights and make more money, but only if they protect women’s and Olympic sports. And just to be clear because there is a little misunderstanding about this: You don’t get to have the antitrust exemption and then later cut these programs. You only get the antitrust exemption if you keep the women’s and Olympic sports. If you don’t do a pooling of media rights, we also have a provision for the next several years that makes people keep their women’s and Olympic roster slots--so very important aspect of the bill. There is this big complaint about the amount of money going to coaches, and I welcome any discussion about how to fix this issue. And I want to thank my colleague Senator Lujan for the brilliant amendment that he offered in committee because, basically, it says you can only pay a coach--with fees from the education system--$500,000 a year and if you want to pay them any more than that, you have to go get somebody in the private sector to go pay that. So we are not going to be held hostage, as taxpayers, to these coaches’ salaries. And in addition, we make it a requirement that you cannot transfer in the middle of the year. Now, a lot of people have said: Well, what are you going to do about the HBCU infrastructure because they are part of Division I football? You know, the SEC and others came along and said: Oh, just kick them out of Division I. We are like: No, that is a really bad idea. We are not going to push them out of Division I football. We are going to grow their capabilities in communication because, just like other people, they want their games seen, they want their broadcast, they want their broadband, but they don’t have it. So this bill includes a $900 million authorization to help upgrade the schools that have been most impacted without the communications capabilities. A lot of my colleagues would say: Well, where is that student athlete support? I am very excited about a commission that we create in this bill to hear more from student athletes. But student athletes and their committees--and these are all the letters from student athletes from various conferences across the United States. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that those letters be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: Statement of Support from the American Rivers Conference Student Statement of Support From the Conference of New England Student-Athlete Statement of Support From the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Support from Student-Athlete Groups for the Protect College Sports Act:”
Madam President, I know the floor has been busy this afternoon with people discussing the Protect College Sports Act, and I want to thank all my colleagues for participating in a debate. That is what this institution is supposed to be about. It is supposed to be about an amendment process, and it is supposed to be about a product that comes out of committee, and it is supposed to be about our colleagues showing up. So I want to thank my colleagues, particularly Senator Booker and Senator Murphy, who came to the floor to express their views on this bill. I want to thank both of them. You know, I certainly agree with Senator Murphy on his long-standing effort to think about collective bargaining in college sports. He has been very outspoken on that for many years. And I want to thank Senator Booker for working with me for many, many years on this issue, and that doesn’t mean that he still doesn’t have reservations, but it means that he is committed to this issue writ large. But we do see a different conclusion here tonight. And I want to thank my colleagues for passing a bill out of committee and now getting it to this threshold because, unlike my colleagues’ comments before, there are several things in this bill that are really important to enshrine into Federal law at this time. First and foremost, the Federal right to NIL and making sure that it is not State laws that have been quite onerous on athletes--that is, laws that say if you conflict with your university, your university wins and if you conflict with other issues, you don’t get NIL. So creating a Federal standard is very important. But compensation on revenue sharing is probably the most important thing we could possibly enshrine in Federal law today. This is saying, for the first time, that an athlete gets a percentage of the media rights, the ticket sales, and the sponsorship. That has not been said before in a court case decision. It was agreed to in a settlement agreement--in a settlement agreement called Grant House v. NCAA. Now, that settlement agreement has had its ups and downs, and I hope it prevails, but I know this: We can put into Federal law that enshrinement so that the Senate is clear. My colleagues have said: Why do this now? Well, because there was a difference of opinion, and even Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in the decision of NCAA v. Alston by the Supreme Court, said: Yes, I think athletes deserve a recognition of revenue, but Congress could step in and change that. And my colleagues may know that the House of Representatives did try to change that. The House of Representatives did try to pass a bill that said: No, they don’t deserve revenue sharing. They don’t deserve revenue sharing. That is the bill the House came very close to passing. And so tonight, we are taking a monumental step that I agree that maybe not all 100 people agree on, but I think the majority of our colleagues agree on these two principles that the Supreme Court also has spoken to, but that we are now putting in a Federal law because, as Brett Kavanaugh said, Congress could change its mind. Congress could do something differently. But tonight, we are speaking. We believe in these two things. We also believe in a health and safety standard in Federal law, one that protects the athletes beyond the way the law works today and gives them the right to sue and hold these people accountable for any kind of health and safety violations. This is something that my colleagues Senator Blumenthal and Senator Booker and I and others worked on diligently, and we want to continue to make sure it is enshrined in this statute. And then medical coverage for 5 years post-eligibility and capping agents’ fees at 5 percent. So my colleagues have said: Why do this? Why do this now? Well, that is because 94 percent of the DI--that is the biggest division of athletes; there are three divisions, and then other associations--94 percent of those DI programs are in the red. So that is a pretty big issue. And the reason why it is so frustrating is there are four schools just in the State of Virginia that are putting exorbitant tuition fees on their students just to pay for college education. There are people that are cutting science programs, cutting professors, cutting other programs just to pay for college sports when, in reality, we need all those to beat China and compete--and not have an arms race in sports. So right now, the median debt for schools in the Big Four conferences--their median debt is $120 million. What are they doing? Now, I know everybody would like to blame it on coaches, and I guarantee you there are a few coaches that need to get called out. But the main reason for this is not because we are paying athletes. It is not because we have all agreed that they deserve to have part of this revenue. This number exists because there are no sound rules that prohibit an arms race from taking place and people who are billionaires and millionaires putting any amount of money into their school program. And our bill fixes that and creates rules across the board for everyone to follow, so that we don’t have this exorbitant arms race. Now, I will be the first to admit there is more to do on stadiums. There is more to do on other aspects of spending college sports. But we need to pass a bill tonight because we need to stop stealing money out of college and university institutions for education, for tuition, for professors, and putting it into an arms race on sports. It is time to make sports about playing sports again and not about the money. So this bill stops the cuts to women’s and Olympic sports. Why? Because who is paying the bill right now? The No. 1 person paying the bill is a hundred programs and a thousand women and Olympic athletes because they don’t make money, so the easiest way to save money in an institution is to cut them right now. And so we are trying to stop that. Our legislation says, yes, we are willing to give the college teams an antitrust exemption to pool their media rights and make more money, but only if they protect women’s and Olympic sports. And just to be clear because there is a little misunderstanding about this: You don’t get to have the antitrust exemption and then later cut these programs. You only get the antitrust exemption if you keep the women’s and Olympic sports. If you don’t do a pooling of media rights, we also have a provision for the next several years that makes people keep their women’s and Olympic roster slots--so very important aspect of the bill. There is this big complaint about the amount of money going to coaches, and I welcome any discussion about how to fix this issue. And I want to thank my colleague Senator Lujan for the brilliant amendment that he offered in committee because, basically, it says you can only pay a coach--with fees from the education system--$500,000 a year and if you want to pay them any more than that, you have to go get somebody in the private sector to go pay that. So we are not going to be held hostage, as taxpayers, to these coaches’ salaries. And in addition, we make it a requirement that you cannot transfer in the middle of the year. Now, a lot of people have said: Well, what are you going to do about the HBCU infrastructure because they are part of Division I football? You know, the SEC and others came along and said: Oh, just kick them out of Division I. We are like: No, that is a really bad idea. We are not going to push them out of Division I football. We are going to grow their capabilities in communication because, just like other people, they want their games seen, they want their broadcast, they want their broadband, but they don’t have it. So this bill includes a $900 million authorization to help upgrade the schools that have been most impacted without the communications capabilities. A lot of my colleagues would say: Well, where is that student athlete support? I am very excited about a commission that we create in this bill to hear more from student athletes. But student athletes and their committees--and these are all the letters from student athletes from various conferences across the United States. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that those letters be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: Statement of Support from the American Rivers Conference Student Statement of Support From the Conference of New England Student-Athlete Statement of Support From the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Support from Student-Athlete Groups for the Protect College Sports Act: