WASHINGTON D.C., DC — U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville released a statement today urging congress to do more about the regulation of NIL deals and protection of student athletes. Alongside Senator Joe Manchin, they would like to"preserve the integrity of college football."
Tuberville's statement reads:
“Earlier this month, college football lost the greatest coach college sports has ever seen: Coach Nick Saban. His retirement was treated with the gravity of a funeral by Alabama fans and by football fans around the country.
Coach Saban’s achievements may never be surpassed: seven National Championships and 11 SEC Championships. I’m proud to call Coach Saban a great friend and a fierce competitor, and I’m also proud to be the only coach to beat Saban four times and one of the only coaches to have a winning record against him.
Coach Saban’s retirement is a big loss for football fans, but the worst may be to come. As Colorado’s Coach Deion Sanders put it, ‘The game has changed so much that it chased the GOAT away.’
Coach Prime is right. Ever since the Supreme Court ruled that student-athletes could be paid for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL), we have been in a brave new world for college athletics.
I support student-athletes making money, but right now there are almost no nationwide rules in place for how this should happen. At least 39 states have passed, proposed, or drafted conflicting laws on this issue, creating an unequal playing field for universities and student-athletes. For example, a school in a state with more restrictive NIL laws is going to have a hard time competing against a school in a state with more lax laws. If Congress does not act, then one state—or a handful of states—will dictate the rules to the rest of the country, which is what we’ve seen happen before. […] Click here to see the Op-Ed by Senator Tuberville in OutKick.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and I have been working on this for years, and we have a solution that could stop this race to the bottom and save college sports. It’s called the Protecting Athletes, Schools, and Sports (PASS) Act. Our bill would create a single national standard for adapting to NIL in college sports. It would end pay for play and implement a national standard for all NIL deals by creating a uniform contract. It would also require universities to honor the original scholarship made to a student athlete, regardless of their NIL deal status.”