The NCAA president says Congress must take action to keep sports at colleges that can't pay their athletes

NCAA President Charlie Baker says congressional action is needed to protect the “95 percent” of athletes whose ability to play collegiate sports would be jeopardized by a court ruling or regulatory decision that identifies them as employees of…

From

BEN NUCKOLS ` Sports Writer

February 23, 2024, 7:35 p.m. ET

• 5 minutes read

WASHINGTON – NCAA President Charlie Baker said Friday that congressional action is needed to protect what he called the “95 percent” of athletes whose ability to play college sports is limited by a court ruling or regulatory decision , which she declares to be employees, schools would be at risk.

Speaking to a small group of reporters near the NCAA offices in Washington, Baker was realistic yet hopeful about the prospect of Congress doing what it failed to do despite persistent demands from his predecessor, Mark Emmert: to grant the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption that would allow it to enact rules to protect college sports without having to constantly threaten litigation.

His comments took on greater urgency when a judge in Tennessee ruled Friday that the NCAA could not prevent schools from using name, image and likeness (NIL) funds to recruit athletes. Baker was informed of the ruling during his meeting with reporters and declined to comment. The NCAA later said in a statement that the ruling “will exacerbate an already chaotic collegiate environment.”

Baker in December proposed creating a new Division I tier that would allow the schools that make the most money from sports to pay their athletes. But he doesn't want internal NCAA reforms or a court ruling to jeopardize sports at the vast majority of member schools. The NCAA faces multiple lawsuits and a unionization effort at Dartmouth that could result in athletes being classified as employees

The employment model wouldn't work at historically black colleges and universities or at Division II or III schools, he said.

“You're talking about 95 percent of colleges probably spending between $40 million and $5 million on college sports, and they're losing money,” Baker said. “They don’t have TV contracts and no one can look at their profit and loss statements or balance sheets and conclude that there is a way for them to make money.”

Baker, a former two-term Republican governor of Massachusetts whose term as NCAA president reaches the one-year mark on March 1, said he has been encouraged by his conversations with members of Congress who agree with him that something What needs to be done to protect and standardize is to protect players' NIL rights and ensure that the NCAA can provide athletes with more opportunities to make money.

“I think in the end we're going to need Congress to do something,” Baker said. “Because people will draw a lot of conclusions from court decisions. And then there will be new ones.”

He said he was watching Congress' action for the long term and did not expect legislation to be passed in an election year in which both parties' priorities, including funding for border security and Ukraine, have stalled.

“I fully accept the fact that this issue is probably not at the top of the list in the grand scheme of things that Congress is working on,” Baker said.

Baker added that the antitrust exemption he is seeking is far narrower than what the NCAA has requested in the past.

The NCAA and Power Five conferences aren't relying solely on Baker's powers of persuasion to achieve their goals on Capitol Hill. They spent a total of $2,970,000 on lobbyists in 2023, surpassing their previous record by more than $700,000, according to lobbying records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The spending increase was largely driven by the Atlantic Coast Conference, which increased its lobbying budget by more than $600,000 and became the first conference in a year to spend more than $1 million in lobbying expenses. The Southeastern Conference increased its spending by more than $200,000. The ACC and SEC have more than made up for the Pac-12's decline in spending, which imploded last year when all but two of its member schools announced their departure to other leagues.

Two senators who have clashed with the NCAA gave a bleak assessment of the association's prospects for getting help from Congress.

“The NCAA has a long history of backroom debates that have resulted in unfair punishments for athletes, coaches and universities. Until the NCAA gets its act together, any get-out-of-jail free tickets they receive will be dead upon arrival in Congress,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a statement to The Associated Press. “The NCAA has harmed its priorities in Congress by pursuing its baseless allegations against schools like the University of Tennessee and imposing unfair penalties.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., pointed to the NCAA's spending on lawyers and lobbyists to protect what he said was an untenable status quo.

“Now that the courts and states are forcing them to treat athletes fairly, the NCAA is spending even more on expensive lobbyists to convince Congress that college sports is suddenly broken,” Murphy said in a statement to the ` called on the NCAA to “negotiate directly with athletes to develop an entirely new model that provides them with the pay and protections they have long deserved.” Until the NCAA takes these fundamental steps, it is no common sense approach to simply turn to Congress to save them.”

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