Buckeye broadband supports cspan along with Television Providers giving you a frontrow seat to democracy. The president of the ncaa joined, Trinity Thomas and others to testify on compensation for College Athletes for the use of their name, image and likens. They testified before the Senate Judiciary committee advocating for a federal standard and discussing the need for transparency and equity. Hearing of the judiciary hearing is called to order. Please take your seats and welcome to all of our witnesses. I am very grateful to my colleague senator durbin for giving me the opportunity to chair the hearing and we wish him a very, very speedy recovery. He evidently had knee surgery. I believe it may have been because of a College Sports injury and i dont know exactly all the details. Ive seen him in the senate gym but all of you know our colleague senator booker who is truly a College Athlete star and very knowledgeable on this topic and a partner with me in longstanding efforts to reform the system, i want to thank our Ranking Member senator graham who has been very interested and involved in this issue and i am going to put in the record a statement of chairman durbin before i begin my remarks. We all know today that the system of College Athletes is in need of reform. Thats why youre here. Its in need of reform now which is why we are here. The system all too long and often has been exploited and abusive financially, emotionally, physically and we have had a number of hearings in other committees. The Commerce Committee as well as this one and i am hopeful that this very impressive Bipartisan Group of witnesses can help to guide us toward specific steps with a sense of urgency that is appropriate for this kind of problem. The system simply has been far more focused on profits than protecting students and it has failed to safeguard them against the abusive and often exploitive system that takes advantage of their blood, sweat and tears in creating a 16 billiondollar industry, make no mistake, it is a 16 billiondollar or more industry that is fueled by the blood, sweat and tears of these athletes and all too often they fail to benefit from it. Many states have passed nil legislation. The Supreme Court has ruled in a 9 to 0 decision that has forced in a sense a day of reckoning and i believe strongly that we need a National Standard for name, emand and likeness namely to protect the athletes against inscrupulous deals in a race to the bottom among a patch work of states. Thats important not only protect the schools against unfair competition but also the athletes themselves and the idea of a National Standard is what brings us here today in a very immediate sense. Athletes are better off now than before. Charlie baker, the head of the ncaa specifically outlined some of the report that is they have taken voluntarily. Weve all read and heard alarming examples of these instances of exploitation and abuse. Every year at least two college if you believe players die of heat stroke. Just 3 months mizelle was found in locker room after if you believe practicing suffering seizure with body temperature of 108degrees. Manzelle never recovered. Gruesome is gruesome way to die. Win at all cost culture that is far too common in Athletic Departments. That culture creates the condition that caused the lives of talented young men and women like mizelle and the abuse and Sexual Assault at bailor, north western, san jose state and elsewhere. The ncaa in past years has failed to the address this abuse as quickly and effectively as i should have. I agree that we should set a strong National Standard and we ought to enshrine it in federal law enforceable, not just put it in the statutes but make sure that it is enforceable either through the separate corporation that senator booker and i have proposed to enforcing athletes bill of rights or through some other means. As importantly as nil, though, we need to address enforceable health and Safety Standards much more broadly and comprehensively. We need to ensure that College Athletes are able to get education in return for their blood, sweat and tears. In july i was proud to announce a draft bipartisan bill with senator booker and senator moran, College Athletes protection and compensation act. Our draft legislation would establish a Strong National nil standard but it would also protect the wellbeing and educational success of student athletes. Student athletes package would set health, Safety Standards to protect College Athletes from serious injury, mistreatment, abuse and even death. It would guaranty tuition and aid to student athletes that suffer a careerending injury or a cut from a team. It would establish medical trust fund to Cover Health Care for longterm injuries resulting from College Athletes participation in sports and it would bring transparency to the nil market and to College Athletes programs. We talk about these kinds of reforms for more than a decade. The time for action is now. Their lives ongoing, careers at stake, individuals who really need and deserve this kind of protection and im very grateful for senator durbin and committee for addressing this topic. I would like to turn to the Ranking Member. Thank you, senator blumenthal. We are hoping that senator durbin will get back soon. In my case i just want to run 40, i dont care how long it takes. I will try to get senator bookers number and put it online and see if i can make a little money. What number were you . 81. So we meet today with the world on fire to my democratic colleagues you have been very good to work with in trying to find a response attack of hamas against israel, as we talk about one of their for fun things in american life, College Sports i just want to let everybody know that this the committee is trying to find a way to be helpful. In terms of being helpful where i come from, South Carolina and many people in this side College Football was not a sport, its a religion and were very concerned about where this thing is going. I think theres a lot of bipartisan support. There needs to be a National Standard. All of your schools need to have some guidance that applies to everybody all of the time i think if you make College Athletes employees, you will knock nongenerating sports particularly women athletics will go away. As you try to elevate some of the star players to make sure they get a piece of the pie, we dont want to create an environment where division two or Smaller Division one schools will be knocked out of the game because they cant afford it. I want it still to be amateur sport to the best that we can. So to me i want to associate myself with what senator blumenthal said, there needs to be a federal standard. Utah is offering everybody on the team a new truck. Theres no end to this. You know, donors are out there competing ferociously and in prosports you signed a contract and nobody will take the player away from you for a certain period of time. You have a chance to get your money back. Between the portal and nil College Football is an absolute chaos. And we need to fix it. And so National Legislation is the only way to fix it and our desire to protect the athlete which is a worthy goal, we cant destroy by making it so expensive nonrevenue generating sports. We want to make sure that athletes at every college, small colleges can play too. Thats the goal and i look forward to trying to find a solution, thank you. Thank you, senator graham. I will introduce the witnesses and we will swear them in and turn into their statements. We are pleased to have all of you today, charry baker our first witness, president of ncaa, mr. Baker former player at harvard who also happened to serve as governor of massachusetts from 2015 to 2023. We are joined by tony patiti, commissioner to have big 10 conference, big 10, one of the power 5 conferences is home to several house Athletic Programs which i know chair durbin, illinois and northwestern university. Our next witness is Trinity Thomas an allamerican gymnast at the university of florida among many accomplishments ms. Thomas top honda award and she holds record for perfect 10s with 28. Shes currently pursuing her second masters degree and built impressive nil portfolio. We are joined by remogi, executive director of the college, National College players association, he helped to found for College Athletes rights, mr. Puma earned degree from ucla where he was a member of the if you believe team and hes been helpful in the past not only in advocacy but helping us shape legislation mr. Walker jones, executive director of the grove collective and entity to help athletes at the university of mississippi monetized their nil rights. Mr. Jones graduated with a bachelor degree from the university of mississippi where he was a member of the college if you believe team. Ms. Jill, Vice President director of athletics and she can deal how small forker universities are dealing with advent of nil and finally, Vice President and director of athletics at the university of notre dame. Earlier this year he coauthored an oped in the New York Times discussing the state of College Sports. We welcome all of you and would you please rise to take the oath which is our custom. Do you swear that the testimony that youll give is the truth, nothing but the truth so help you god . Thank you very much. Mr. Baker will begin with your testimony, please. [away from microphone] i think your microphone may not be on. Better . Yeah. Thank you very much senator blumenthal, to your and to Ranking Member graham and the distinguished members to have commit. I want to start by thanking you for the opportunity for being here today. Before i begin i want to say that on behalf of College Sports generally we condemn the recent violence perpetrated by hamas, these acts were horrific, hard to comprehend and thoughts with the people of israel and the innocence that are involved in that conflict. In advance of my testimony today we did speak with leaders from 3 divisions and others to ensure that im speaking for broad collection of nca voices as possible, that this committee has made time to discus College Sports speak to their importance and we very much appreciate it. College sports are a ticket to an education for half a million young people generating 4 billion in college aid. College sports are cornerstones to countless campuses and in turn they are cornerstones for thriving communities. College sports are americas olympic pipeline with 75 of the 2022 team usa coming up through nca sports. College sports are also overdue for a change but im proud to say we have been doing something about that. Since i took over at nca president 7 months ago we created a Student Athlete HealthInsurance Fund that will provide all athletes across all 3 divisions access to healthcare for athletically related injuries for up to two years post eligibility or graduation. Every school is now required to provide healthcare benefits, degree completion funds for at least ten years after they stop competing and Mental Health services to their student athletes. Scholarships are protected and schools must offer academic counseling, career preparation. We prioritized equitable championship experiences in National Leadership to put gender equity at the center of everything that they do. The nca also continues to advance common sense changes to Sports Betting policies and enforcement policies that penalize the adults not the young people. Nca is moving nil bylaws forward to improve outcomes for student athletes, we share the concern there because they deserve to profit from nil free from manipulation, the changes are long overdue and they are happening now thanks in part for cause for action from members of this committee and from the student athlete themselves. There are some issues College Sports face that we the ncaa cannot address on our own. New bylaw proposal require student athletes to disclose certain information to their schools only and offers incentives to use fair contact terms the and reputable agents. We want to partner with congress to go further and curtailish deucements and prevent collectives and third parties from tampering can students and we would like to have a National Standard request a watch work of laws as you pointed out, senator blumenthal, currently existsment School Conferences in the ncaa are making changes to the benefit that we provide and protecting programs from a one size fits all approach, we support codifying current regulatory into law by granting special status that would affirm that they are not employees. And on this point we are not alone. I visited college in south dakota with senator john thune to hear why athletes dont want to become employees. The elected School Representatives on three division are on record saying the same thing. They fear the current legal landscape and they have called for action. The athletic conferences representing the vast majority of historically black colleges and universities have also supported this policy. They believe the progress theyve made educating young people of color would be at risk if their Athletic Departments had to become employers. We also think theres opportunity for congress to ensure in this new area of collectives that theres no discrimination on the basis of race, gender or sport in the marketing or facilitation of nil agreements and lastly, we want to partner with congress to grant limited Liability Protections so we can set reasonable competition standards and enforce Student Health and wellbeing requirements with direction from congress. Let me just close with this, we are grateful for the time youre giving us today and appreciate the chance to Exchange Ideas with you and i learn serving as governor that the legislative branch has immense power and rightfully yield its bearingly but i believe we can find Common Ground on this and i look forward helping student athletes succeed in this new era. Thank you. Thanks, governor baker. Ms. Pitti. Thank you, senator blumenthal, Ranking Member graham, distinguished member, thank you for discussing pertinent issues and thank you for your strong commitment to finding legislative solutions. We have been working closely with senators cruz, booker on legislative proposals. My name is tony petitti, the countrys oldest division one collegiate conference. Although ive only been commissioner for six months i have a listening history of working in professional and College Sports particularly Major League Baseball and former student athlete and first of my family to attend college. Big ten conference is deeply committed to academics, research and broadbase sports opportunities for all students. We take great pride in the success of our student athletes both inside and outside of the classroom during time at big ten institutions as well as afterwards. Student athlete welfare is a top priority and we provide post separation health care which guaranties our student athletes have access to medical care and Mental Health services during and after their time on campus. While the big ten and other conferences current i will provide these important benefits the big ten is open to and supports efforts for a digital wellness to our student athletes. Student athlete model has undergone rapid transformation. We see this complements of events as an opportunity to modify the dynamics that exist for student athletes. We are prepared to modernize our guidelines to create a new framework for collegiate athletics. One that more fairly provides benefits to student athletes directly from member institutions maintains broad base sports opportunities for men and women and upholds title 9. We see four main challenges that must be addressed by proper regulation to better protect and serve student athletes and to support a new governing structure. First, there are now more than 30 different state laws related to name, image and likens and many states are passing nil and provide competitive advantage in recruiting to the promise of nil. To provide certainty, equity and competitive balance a federal statute is needed to preempt this network of state laws. Second because of the combination of Court Dec