Congress Takes on College Athlete Employment

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While college athletes have made gains in the employment debate—whether through Dartmouth men’s basketball’s unionization or the NCAA v. House antitrust settlement—the House of Representatives is looking to draw a clear line in the sand the other way. A new bill sponsored by 11 Republican members and titled the “Protecting Student Athletes’ Economic Freedom Act” seeks to ban the ability for college athletes to be considered employees of their schools, in turn also preventing them from unionizing. 

A majority of a GOP-led committee voted to report the bill to the House with a favorable recommendation, and it will now move to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. But, as Sportico’s Michael McCann writes, the bill “will face several layers of political and legal opposition.” The biggest hurdle? President Joe Biden is a strong supporter of union rights and would likely veto it.

There was also, of course, some key coaching news of late. We nearly had a massive late spring college coaching shakeup when it was reported that the Los Angeles Lakers were targeting UConn’s Dan Hurley. While Hurley’s contract has a much higher buyout for him to leave for another college job vs. the NBA, he opted to turn down a big Lakers offer and stay in Storrs, Conn., to chase a historic third consecutive national championship.

Speaking of UConn coaches, Geno Auriemma got a new deal from the Huskies. It will make him the highest-paid coach in women’s basketball again—and interestingly, the contract also increases the cost should he leave for the growing WNBA.

Other things you may have missed: 

–Colorado’s Shilo Sanders got a partial win in his bankruptcy case when a judge dismissed some of the claims brought against the Buffaloes safety by security guard John Darjean, who is owed more than $11 million by Sanders.

–Ten players from the 1983 NC State men’s basketball national championship team sued the NCAA and Collegiate Licensing Company, arguing that the organizations continue to unlawfully benefit from the players’ NIL and publicity rights during their Cinderella run to the title.

–Learfield and its former partner Penn State have settled a legal dispute that followed PSU’s new 15-year multimedia rights agreement with rival Playfly.

–Craig Thompson, the original Mountain West commissioner who retired in 2022, received $2.44 million in compensation from the conference for the fiscal year 2023. 

–Oklahoma became the first school to win four straight NCAA softball championships, taking down rival Texas for the program’s eighth overall national title. It’s been quite the four years for the team’s seniors.

Elsewhere in Sportico:

–CBS is exploring a sale of MaxPreps
–Reaction to Caitlin Clark’s Team USA omission
–Kyrie Irving’s shoes are being noticed
–How the NBA may fix its replay system