Senator Cantwell Warns Of College Sports Divide Over New NIL Bill

The Congress is considering the SCORE Act, the acronym for the bill titled "The Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act."

The Associated Press is reporting that Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington believes the SCORE Act will lead to a two-tier college sports system with haves and create inequities for other conferences.

The legislation's sponsors believe the SCORE Act would protect the name, image, and likeness rights of student athletes and promote fair competition for intercollegiate athletics. Name, image, and likeness, or NIL, allows collegiate athletes to earn money for the use of their name or likeness for advertising and other commercial purposes. NIL money is used to pay high-profile athletes to attend a certain school. The advent of NIL was won in court after athletes successfully argued their performance was earning university athletic programs and video gaming publishers incredible profits for which athletes should be compensated.

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The SCORE Act would provide the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption, override state laws regulating NIL money, and block athletes from being considered as employees.

Cantwell reached out to leaders at more than 350 Division I schools across the country this week, warning of the consequences if the SCORE Act passes without changes. Cantwell is the ranking member of the Senate committee that oversees college sports. Her letter warned university officials the SCORE Act would

“incentivize a Power 2 conference system that will create inequities for other conferences and leave behind small to mid-sized schools.”  -- Sen. Cantwell

Cantwell argues the Big Ten and Southeastern Conferences will control the lion's share of revenue generated by college sports and the recruiting of top athletes.

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the SCORE Act later this month.

The Washington Huskies and Oregon Ducks departed the PAC-12 conference and are in their second season as members of the Big Ten. The PAC-12 was once among the Power 5 conferences, but Washington State and Oregon State were the only teams left in the PAC-12 after Washington, Oregon, and other programs departed last football season. Other programs have decided to participate in the conference over the next few years.