Tom Kean Asks Witness How Re-Classifying Student-Athletes As Employees Could Harm Small Universities

2 days ago

During a House Commerce Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Tom Kean (R-NJ) spoke about the effect that NIL deals could have on the competitiveness of smaller universities.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today.

00:08As the landscape of college athletics continues to evolve, NIL has created new opportunities

00:14for student-athletes while also raising concerns about fairness, recruitment, and the role

00:19of higher education in sports.

00:22As we consider federal legislation, it is critical that we strike the right balance,

00:27ensuring that athletes can benefit from their name, image, and likeness, preserving the

00:32integrity of college athletics, and keeping competition fair for all schools, including

00:37those in New Jersey.

00:39Mr. Whitman, thank you for your testimony, and one of my concerns is how to be classifying

00:45students as employees would drastically harm smaller universities, where we already have

00:50seen many eliminate specific sports teams or their entire sports program in its entirety.

00:57I know that you are the Athletic Director of a larger school, but what are the consequences

01:02of shifting students to become employees?

01:05Are there alternative ways in which we can bring about some of the protection for student-athletes

01:11without naming them employees and potentially eliminating their chance to continue playing

01:16the sports they love?

01:19Thank you, Congressman.

01:20I do have some firsthand experience with this.

01:23Prior to coming to the University of Illinois, I was the Athletic Director at two different

01:26Division III institutions, and so I have an understanding of what it means to be at

01:32a smaller institution that competes at a different level of college athletics.

01:36I do think the Dartmouth men's basketball case is instructive to the question that you've

01:42asked.

01:43In that case, the Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board found the men's

01:46basketball team at Dartmouth to be employees based on the fact that Dartmouth exercised

01:52control over their schedule, and ultimately they compensated them in the form of free

01:56apparel, shoes and sweatshirts, priority scheduling, and the opportunity to give their family free

02:03tickets.

02:04The problem with that is that that is the test that every student-athlete in America

02:08at every Division I, Division II, and Division III institution is also an employee, because

02:14every school provides free sweatshirts, free shoes, free tickets for their kids to have

02:19for their families to attend their games.

02:21And that becomes a tremendous problem.

02:24If schools like the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse, where I began my athletic director career,

02:29were forced to begin compensating student-athletes, they don't have the financial resources to

02:34support a program that is required to do that, and ultimately they'll have to make decisions

02:38that may ultimately result in significant reduction in opportunities for student-athletes

02:46and potentially even the closure of full programs.

02:49And that would be catastrophic for the educational mission of college athletics.

02:56Coach Beamer, do you feel NIL opportunities have created challenges in maintaining team

03:03chemistry, and if so, how do you keep players focused on the team?

03:08It's a new challenge that all of us as coaches are navigating for the first time.

03:14To me, sir, it starts with bringing the right kind of people into your program that certainly

03:20understand that they can capitalize on their name, image, and likeness, but making sure

03:24that's not the sole reason that they're at the University of South Carolina, for sure.

03:31And they understand all of our players, they're not, but they all have a goal of going to

03:36professional football, and that's an aspect of professional football as well.

03:41Players getting paid, and some guys are going to be making more in their name, image, and

03:45likeness in college, just like the NFL players will be as well when they're paid a salary.

03:51And how can federal NIL legislation create a fair playing field for all student-athletes,

03:57including those at smaller schools or in non-revenue sports?

04:02Certainly just the national legislation that we need that would, one, promote academics

04:08and enhance welfare for all of our student-athletes, that allows the conferences and the NCAA to

04:16regulate without being caught up in litigation, and then certainly something to protect the

04:21student-athletes as well, a national law that will help with the agents.

04:27Because as it's been mentioned, there's some great ones out there, don't get me wrong,

04:30but in pro sports, you have to be certified to be an agent.

04:34So many of our student-athletes have agents that help them with NIL that aren't really agents.

04:41And so many young student-athletes are being taken advantage of by these.

04:48You, back.

04:49Thank you very much.

04:50And now I recognize Mr. Evans, from the great state of Colorado.

04:55I'm not sure if you represent Neon Deon, Coach Prime, or not, but you're recognized for your

05:04five minutes of questions.

Tom Kean Asks Witness How Re-Classifying Student-Athletes As Employees Could Harm Small Universities

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