Lou Correa Raises Concern Over Impacts Of NCAA 'Allowing Athletes To Become Employees'

3 days ago

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA) questioned witnesses about the impact that a potential employee model for student athletes in the NCAA could have on educational opportunities.

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00:00Mosley resigns from Wisconsin women's basketball. Without objection, gentleman

00:06from California is now recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First

00:09of all, I'd like to start out with asking unanimous consent to submit documents

00:14for the record. Information sheet from Chapman University entitled Athletics

00:20NCAA Division III fact sheet for congressional districts 40 and 46. Letter

00:26dated March 10th of this year from Cal State Fullerton Department of

00:30Intercollegiate Athletics and both of these letters address the issue of

00:34college athletes becoming employees and ask Congress to address national

00:38landscape related to NIL and other matters. Third letter from Student

00:43Athlete Advisory Committees Division 1, 2, and 3. Article from the Daily Breeze

00:48titled Loyola Merrimont made a tough choice to drop six sports. Will similar

00:55will other universities follow? And finally, Bloomberg Law article entitled

01:01Carlich Union's Ray Spector of scholarship tax hit. Without objection.

01:06And I want to start out by thanking the NCAA for making a total mess. Sports,

01:15college sports. Given that track record, we find ourselves today where NCAA is

01:24asking for an antitrust exemption in perpetuity. Given that sports, college

01:32sports, are still evolving. It's very interesting ask. I just ask Mr. Chairman

01:38that we do have additional hearings to address these issues here. All of us are

01:45college sports fans, whether it be football, basketball. Personally, I love

01:50college wrestling. But to think the amount of money that's involved in

01:56college sports. Just USC recently signed a hundred and ten million dollar

02:02contract. Ten year contract with their head coach, the football. On the other

02:09hand, let me show you something. This is the last football helmet for my

02:18alma mater, Cal State Fullerton. Second largest school in California. 42,000

02:24athletes. In 1992, because of budget reasons. What did I say? 42,000 athlete

02:32students. Students. Mostly blue-collar working families, my neighbors. Cut

02:39football in 1992 because of budgetary reasons. 2010, they cut the wrestling

02:46team because of budgetary reasons. This was especially painful to me because a

02:51lot of the kids in my neighborhood, they're street kids. If it wasn't for

02:55wrestling, God knows where they'd be. And more importantly, wrestling gave them a

03:01taste of success that has changed their lives. Now, local athletic programs don't

03:10offer college wrestling. Limits their educational opportunities because most

03:17of them don't have scholarships. They live in the neighborhood. You've got to

03:22go to a place where they can live at home and wrestle. Mr. Chairman, there are

03:31college athletes in 1,000 plus schools. D2, D3. They're not football or basketball.

03:39Powerhouses. My issue, my question today is, how will these changes affect those

03:48blue-collar, middle-class families, students that are trying to get their

03:53college education? So my question to all of you, beginning with Mr. Cooper, is how

03:59will allowing athletes to become employees help or harm these thousands

04:04of students that are trying to get a college education, Mr. Cooper? And let's

04:09start talking about becoming employees. Go ahead. So there's clearly a difference

04:16between D2, D3, and D1 institutions, which is why the NCAA has those distinctions. A

04:23similar distinction will inevitably be drawn between the Power Five and the

04:27rest of D1 because there's 32 conferences in D1 and, you know, the lower

04:34resource institutions in D1 and Wisconsin. Good, bad. Good, bad? What do you mean?

04:40If you're an employee, is that gonna hurt? Well, the same rules don't need to be

04:44imposed on every athlete. The D1 rules and the D2 rules are not the same. So we need to study this issue a little bit more then, is what you're saying. The solution isn't clear yet.

04:54There isn't a simple solution that can be summarized in 30 seconds that applies to all athletes. Mr. Arburo, I have eight seconds left. Mr. Arburo.

05:04Yeah, my concern, again, from a standpoint of swimming and diving, Olympic sport,

05:08non-revenue sport, the employee model would be extremely detrimental to us.

05:15Simple as starting with the level of services that we provide, from mental

05:19health support, nutrition, athletic training, medical support. All of a sudden,

05:23those things could be taxed. It creates a nightmare. Thank you very much. Ms. Smith?

05:32The employee model will affect us in track and field because I have majority

05:40student-athletes from underserved communities and they're not going to

05:44have the money to pay for these resources. They have no other way. They could

05:48negotiate a collective bargaining contract to pay for those resources. I

05:53don't know about that. I'm a track coach, maybe. Mr. McIntosh? Congressman, what I

06:00would say is, I participated as a professional athlete, as an employee. I

06:05was injured in my second year and I was terminated after my third year. That's a

06:11system that is more adverse to an athlete than the system that we live in

06:17today, in which our student-athletes have guaranteed scholarships regardless of

06:20injury. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm out of time and like I said, I do hope to have

06:24further hearings on this issue. Gentleman's time has expired. Now I recognize the

06:29gentleman from...

Lou Correa Raises Concern Over Impacts Of NCAA 'Allowing Athletes To Become Employees'

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