Discussion · Senate
Christopher A. Coons Democrat
“I want the Senate to pass this bill. It protects college athletes. It guarantees their scholarships for ten years, covers their healthcare for sports injuries, and lets them share in the money their sports make. It also limits what agents can charge them and lets players sue if schools break these promises. I also want us to vote on an amendment to make sure athletes can still sue schools under state laws for abuse or hazing.”
“Madam President, I rise today to speak about the Protect College Sports Act as one of the 10 cosponsors of this bill. A question I asked myself when I first got involved in this issue, now some time ago, was, since I didn’t play college sports myself: What would I want if my child or the child of a good friend of mine were playing college sports? What would I hope for for them in terms of protections-- protection from people pretending to be agents showing up at the home of a family with a really capable, really promising young athlete but who have no experience in negotiations? What would I want in terms of protection from agents? What about their ability to continue their college education if they get recruited to a promising school as a promising athlete but three games into the season, they tear their ACL? What about the opportunity to play an Olympic sport or play DII or DIII? What about future care for a lifelong injury? All of those and more are protected in this bill. One of the things that brought me to supporting this bill was the rough-hewn bipartisan compromise, which is the essence of what legislating here is, that provides a 10-year guarantee to finish out the scholarship that drew a young athlete to a school regardless of changing a major or leaving for a few years or having an injury; wraparound healthcare for the 5 years they are playing and for 5 years after playing for any injury related to college sports; and then lifetime medical trusts; and then last, registration, certification, and transparency for agents and a cap on the rate they can charge. This bill makes all of those protections real. In some ways, most importantly, it enshrined in statute revenue sharing and NIL compensation--name, image, and likeness compensation--for college athletes. It more than doubles money currently available for athletic programs to share with student-athletes, and it has a $5 million fund for women’s and Olympic sports. As I have said, there are a number of protections for college athletes on the field. One that hasn’t been mentioned much here is return-to-play decisions that, when made, have to be made by a medical professional whose responsibility is to the athlete--not by the coach, not by the athletic director. All the things I just cited--the scholarship protection, the healthcare protection, the return-to-play decision, the transparency and certification of agents--there are new Federal private rights of action, the ability to sue. If these aren’t provided, if colleges make these promises and don’t keep them, you can sue as a college athlete. This bill does not solve the question of collective bargaining. I support collective bargaining. I think we should have collective bargaining to protect the rights of college athletes. This bill is silent on that question. It also explicitly protects a majority of current lawsuits that have been filed and that will continue to go forward. In a few moments, it is my hope that we will lock in a whole series of amendment votes, and one of the amendments would make perfectly clear the protections that are already in this bill for allowing future lawsuits--lawsuits based on State tort claims that don’t conflict with this bill, for things like hazing or abuse or CTE injury. If you just happen to be the best wrestler or the best fencer or the best rower in a small town in a rural part of America and you are looking to get a scholarship for college and an agent pitches up on your doorstep and makes a story to you, this bill protects you. In my view, this is an example of what bipartisan compromise can produce. I just wanted to say I am grateful to Senators Cruz and Cantwell for their extensive discussions with stakeholders. This is not a dream Republican or Democratic bill, but it will protect the dreams of more than half a million young American athletes across our country. That is why it is supported by the U.S. Olympic Committee, by Olympians, by those who became Olympians playing college sports, the Team USA Athletes’ Commission. It is supported by the players unions that are professional--the National Basketball Players Association, the NFL Players Association--and by the DI, DII, and DIII NCAA Student- Athlete Advisory Committee chairs. It is my hope that we will soon vote on an amendment offered by my colleagues Senators Durbin and Baldwin that will clarify the intention of this bill, that will make it clear that State law claims don’t conflict with this bill and survive and that student-athletes can sue schools, conferences, and the NCAA for misconduct. At the end of the day, when we gather as families later this fall at Thanksgiving, I don’t know about your family, but mine will avoid painful and difficult conversations about political differences, religious differences, or even who likes which stuffing, but we will gather to watch college sports. At the end of the day, the chaos that has been caused by transfers, by eligibility, by uncertainty about the future, and by the destruction of conferences will be lessened by this bill. There is, for all of us who are fans of college athletics, a moment and an urgency to act, and this bill, this bipartisan bill, deserves passage in this body today. I yield the floor.”
Madam President, I rise today to speak about the Protect College Sports Act as one of the 10 cosponsors of this bill. A question I asked myself when I first got involved in this issue, now some time ago, was, since I didn’t play college sports myself: What would I want if my child or the child of a good friend of mine were playing college sports? What would I hope for for them in terms of protections-- protection from people pretending to be agents showing up at the home of a family with a really capable, really promising young athlete but who have no experience in negotiations? What would I want in terms of protection from agents? What about their ability to continue their college education if they get recruited to a promising school as a promising athlete but three games into the season, they tear their ACL? What about the opportunity to play an Olympic sport or play DII or DIII? What about future care for a lifelong injury? All of those and more are protected in this bill. One of the things that brought me to supporting this bill was the rough-hewn bipartisan compromise, which is the essence of what legislating here is, that provides a 10-year guarantee to finish out the scholarship that drew a young athlete to a school regardless of changing a major or leaving for a few years or having an injury; wraparound healthcare for the 5 years they are playing and for 5 years after playing for any injury related to college sports; and then lifetime medical trusts; and then last, registration, certification, and transparency for agents and a cap on the rate they can charge. This bill makes all of those protections real. In some ways, most importantly, it enshrined in statute revenue sharing and NIL compensation--name, image, and likeness compensation--for college athletes. It more than doubles money currently available for athletic programs to share with student-athletes, and it has a $5 million fund for women’s and Olympic sports. As I have said, there are a number of protections for college athletes on the field. One that hasn’t been mentioned much here is return-to-play decisions that, when made, have to be made by a medical professional whose responsibility is to the athlete--not by the coach, not by the athletic director. All the things I just cited--the scholarship protection, the healthcare protection, the return-to-play decision, the transparency and certification of agents--there are new Federal private rights of action, the ability to sue. If these aren’t provided, if colleges make these promises and don’t keep them, you can sue as a college athlete. This bill does not solve the question of collective bargaining. I support collective bargaining. I think we should have collective bargaining to protect the rights of college athletes. This bill is silent on that question. It also explicitly protects a majority of current lawsuits that have been filed and that will continue to go forward. In a few moments, it is my hope that we will lock in a whole series of amendment votes, and one of the amendments would make perfectly clear the protections that are already in this bill for allowing future lawsuits--lawsuits based on State tort claims that don’t conflict with this bill, for things like hazing or abuse or CTE injury. If you just happen to be the best wrestler or the best fencer or the best rower in a small town in a rural part of America and you are looking to get a scholarship for college and an agent pitches up on your doorstep and makes a story to you, this bill protects you. In my view, this is an example of what bipartisan compromise can produce. I just wanted to say I am grateful to Senators Cruz and Cantwell for their extensive discussions with stakeholders. This is not a dream Republican or Democratic bill, but it will protect the dreams of more than half a million young American athletes across our country. That is why it is supported by the U.S. Olympic Committee, by Olympians, by those who became Olympians playing college sports, the Team USA Athletes’ Commission. It is supported by the players unions that are professional--the National Basketball Players Association, the NFL Players Association--and by the DI, DII, and DIII NCAA Student- Athlete Advisory Committee chairs. It is my hope that we will soon vote on an amendment offered by my colleagues Senators Durbin and Baldwin that will clarify the intention of this bill, that will make it clear that State law claims don’t conflict with this bill and survive and that student-athletes can sue schools, conferences, and the NCAA for misconduct. At the end of the day, when we gather as families later this fall at Thanksgiving, I don’t know about your family, but mine will avoid painful and difficult conversations about political differences, religious differences, or even who likes which stuffing, but we will gather to watch college sports. At the end of the day, the chaos that has been caused by transfers, by eligibility, by uncertainty about the future, and by the destruction of conferences will be lessened by this bill. There is, for all of us who are fans of college athletics, a moment and an urgency to act, and this bill, this bipartisan bill, deserves passage in this body today. I yield the floor.