Lori Trahan: NIL Revenue Frameworks Are Based On Model 'Where Women Were Shortchanged’

3 days ago

During a House Commerce Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) spoke about efforts to uphold Title IX in college athletics.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Chairman, and thank you for our witnesses today, especially our players.

00:05The state of college athletics, while imperfect, it's better today than it was four years ago.

00:10Now it may not be better for the people who have historically benefited from the guise

00:14of amateurism, but it's certainly better for athletes.

00:17And those are the folks who have always created the value in this industry.

00:22But while I celebrate the progress, I remain concerned about the inequities that persist

00:26in college athletics.

00:28And with respect to NIL, I worry that universities' plan to finally share revenue directly with

00:34athletes could again shortchange women at a time when women's sports are seeing a massive

00:40surge in popularity.

00:43Mr. Whitman, are you aware of the tentative agreement in the House v. NCAA lawsuit that

00:49will require the NCAA to pay out nearly $2.8 billion in damages to current and former athletes

00:56dating back to 2016, with 75 percent going to football players, 15 percent for men's

01:02basketball players, 5 percent for women basketball players, and 5 percent for all other athletes?

01:11I am aware, yes.

01:12I figured.

01:13Then you, and great, I wouldn't expect any other answer.

01:18You must also be familiar with the filing in that case by Barbara Osborne, an independent

01:22Title IX specialist with extensive experience auditing collegiate institutions who studied

01:29the House settlement terms.

01:31If the lopsided terms of the House settlement were used in an institution, Ms. Osborne claimed

01:36she would have advised the institution that they were violating Title IX.

01:41Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to enter Ms. Osborne's report on the gender inequities

01:46present in the House settlement's revenue model into the record.

01:55Mr. Whitman, you advocate that Congress codify a revenue-sharing framework that is, and I'm

02:02quoting here from your testimony, largely in line with what is contemplated by the House

02:07settlement.

02:08Your testimony comes amid reports that Power Five schools, like the University of Georgia,

02:14are already planning to use those same thresholds in their future revenue-sharing model, scheduled

02:19to take effect later this year.

02:21Mr. Whitman, can you understand why many current and former women athletes, like myself, are

02:28alarmed that NCAA institutions and leaders are adopting a revenue-sharing model that

02:34only gives women, at most, 10 percent?

02:40Thank you for the question, Congresswoman.

02:43This is an issue that has weighed heavily on our campuses as we have tried to evaluate

02:48how to apply an old 50-year-old law to a new set of facts that weren't contemplated when

02:59that law was passed.

03:01We have worked very earnestly to consult with a variety of different counsel to gain some

03:07clarity on that issue, and all that we have learned through those conversations is there

03:10seems to be some lack of consensus around exactly how that law will apply to these new

03:15opportunities that we can make available to our student-athletes.

03:19What we know is that we're seeing an explosion in popularity in women's sports.

03:23We know that people who work in college athletics remain very strong champions of advancement

03:29in our women's, amongst our women's teams.

03:32But we also see that we are faced with some really challenging balancing of equities

03:38in a case like this one.

03:40If we were to apply Title IX in the sense of the traditional financial aid balancing

03:47proportionality, we would potentially be diverting money away from the athletes who generate

03:53that revenue, many of whom are student-athletes of color, many of whom come from underprivileged

03:59backgrounds.

04:00On the flip side, we understand that if we were to maintain those revenues with the student-athletes

04:06who generate it, we wouldn't be potentially passing as much of it along to our female

04:11student-athletes, and so it creates a really challenging dynamic for us to navigate on

04:16campus.

04:17Which is why I ask that question, because as you're aware in your role as Director of

04:22Athletics, Title IX requires that if a school awards financial assistance to athletes, they

04:26must quote, provide reasonable opportunities for such awards for members of each sex in

04:32proportion to the number of students of each sex participating in interscholastic or intercollegiate

04:38athletics end quote.

04:40Surely the model that Georgia and other schools plan to use cannot comply with Title IX.

04:47We don't think that's been identified or established.

04:50We think there's lack of clarity around how Title IX will apply to these new payments.

04:56We currently comply with Title IX.

04:59We're required to comply with Title IX.

05:01We have every intention of continuing to comply with Title IX.

05:03Well, at a time when women haven't seen their fair market value because they've never had

05:07the benefit of promotion or boosting, at a time when women's fandom of college sports

05:13is surging, I would hope that we would not base forward-looking and forward-looking frameworks

05:19for how we're going to distribute those revenues based on a model where women were shortchanged.

05:28So I thank you for the extra time, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.

05:31If I could just add one final statement to that.

05:34It is important to note that at the University of Illinois, our women student-athletes will

05:38receive far more benefits in the new paradigm than they have in the previous, and that includes

05:44scholarships, that includes NIL payments, that includes a number of different benefits

05:48that will now be made available by virtue of the settlement.

05:52And so that's an important note to make.

05:57General Leigh yields back.

05:58Now I'll recognize.

Lori Trahan: NIL Revenue Frameworks Are Based On Model 'Where Women Were Shortchanged’

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