Laurel Lee Presses Expert On Providing NCAA 'Safe Harbor' Regarding NIL And Antitrust Laws

4 days ago

During a House Commerce Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) spoke about giving NCAA 'safe harbor' from antitrust laws.

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Transcript

00:00Five minutes of questioning.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Go Gators! And thank you to all of our witnesses for being with us here

00:11today. I'd like to go back to you, Mr. Whitman, for some follow-up questions. In your testimony,

00:18you advocate for Congress to establish a uniform name-image likeness and revenue-sharing framework

00:25in line with the House settlement. How do you see the dynamic between the collectives and schools

00:31changing if we are to codify the basic provisions of the settlement?

00:37Thank you, Congresswoman. The question around the relationship between institutions

00:42and their respective collectives is one that I think is best left to those organizations. I think

00:48there's no question that in the new environment that will be created by the settlement, we expect

00:53those relationships to evolve. I would imagine they would go one of three different directions.

00:58In one instance, you could see some collectives wind down and cease operations. Secondly,

01:04you could see some collectives that come, quote-unquote, in-house to the athletic program

01:08and begin to operate internally under the umbrella of the athletics department. Or third,

01:13you could see some collectives continue to exist separate and apart from the athletic program, but

01:18repurpose their focus and begin to develop true market-based NIL opportunities for student athletes.

01:27And I'd also like to discuss the application of antitrust laws to collegiate sports and the NCAA.

01:33In your testimony, you distinguish between a blanket exemption and a safe harbor. Why do

01:39you believe that a safe harbor is appropriate, and why is that important for collegiate sports?

01:45It's important today to understand that we have leadership across college athletics

01:50that recognizes the need for college athletics to evolve and change, to modernize the structure

01:55that has existed for decades around college sports. The challenge that we face is that every

02:01time we try and implement new rules, new procedures, we get pulled into court under the auspices of the

02:07antitrust laws. And so we're not looking for Congress to, quote-unquote, fix college sports,

02:13we're looking for Congress to create a legally defensible space where we can fix college sports.

02:22And right now, because of the overarching concerns around antitrust and the need for us to create a

02:28national environment, that lends itself naturally to some challenges in the antitrust space. And

02:35that's where we would appreciate some protection so that we could function more openly and create

02:40that national playing field that we think everybody wants in college athletics.

02:45Mr. Egbo, I'd like to go back to you. As a student-athlete, you bring a very important

02:52perspective to the conversation that we are having here today, and we are nearing the end of our

02:57hearing. So I wanted to come back to you and ask this question. Is there anything that you believe

03:01is an important perspective that you have not had the opportunity to share with us today,

03:06or haven't been asked about yet today? Yeah, I'd like to take the time to just

03:13re-emphasize some of the things that I said in my opening statement. You know, student-athletes,

03:20we value this experience greatly. Like, this collegiate experience is something that

03:25creates opportunities. Like I mentioned, my life has changed from my opportunity to play

03:28college sports, and it will continue to change because of those connections I have.

03:32So I want to re-emphasize that student-athletes, again, when talking about employment, like,

03:37we want to preserve those opportunities, and we believe that the opportunities that we do have

03:42come from being student-athletes first. So a lot of what we are desiring and asking Congress to

03:48help with is to protect those opportunities, like I said, for student-athletes like me

03:52that are in these situations and at institutions like myself. But I just want to say thank you

03:56again for the opportunity to hear us, because we know that you guys care about these issues.

04:01And Ms. Cole, the same question for you. Is there anything you are hoping to share

04:04with us today or want to emphasize for our benefit?

04:10I really think I just would like to emphasize how grateful I am to have had a positive experience

04:15with the new NIL regulations, and I'm so grateful to all of y'all for taking the time to put effort

04:21in to continue to help athletes have a similar experience as I had.

04:26All right. Mr. Whitman, coming back to you, how are you anticipating, what are you doing now to

04:31prepare for challenges? The settlement is approved and implemented. How will that affect the resources

04:36and the programs that you currently provide? It will allow us to begin generating additional

04:44resources, we think, through a number of different avenues. It will allow us to begin

04:49providing direct compensation to our student-athletes in the form of NIL licenses,

04:54allow us to control that environment more to provide greater accountability to our

04:57student-athletes. Our student-athletes trust us. They trust our athletics program.

05:03They understand that we are actively working in their best interests, and we look forward to,

05:08under the settlement, being able to lock arms with them and create a stronger partnership

05:12that ultimately enhances their opportunity to be a student-athlete at our university.

05:16Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.

Laurel Lee Presses Expert On Providing NCAA 'Safe Harbor' Regarding NIL And Antitrust Laws

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