Tommy Tuberville, Joe Manchin introduce legislation to address NIL in college athletics

Sens. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., on Tuesday announced that they have introduced a bill pertaining to college sports, including athletes’ activities in making money from their name, image and likeness (NIL).

The bill comes days after another bipartisan effort at a college sports bill was launched by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; and Cory Booker, D-N.J., who unveiled a discussion draft of a bill.

Tuberville, a former college football head coach, and Manchin have been working on their proposal for over year – and, according to their announcement, their measure would establish a national standard for NIL activities, preempting varying state laws around the enterprise and including the implementation of a uniform standard contract for NIL deals.

It also would attempt to address what has become a massive shift in athlete movement among schools by requiring, with some exceptions, athletes to complete three years of athletic eligibility before they could transfer without having to sit out of competition for a year.

The bill also would require collectives that have been assisting athletes at many schools in arranging NIL deals to be affiliated with a school.

In addition, according to the announcement, the bill would give the NCAA, conferences and schools legal protection. This a feature of such a bill that the association has long been seeking. According to the announcement, the bill would ensure that "schools, conferences and associations are not liable for their efforts to comply" with the measure.

“As a former college athlete, I know how important sports are to gaining valuable life skills and opening doors of opportunity. However, in recent years, we have faced a rapidly evolving NIL landscape without guidelines to navigate it, which jeopardizes the health of the players and the educational mission of colleges and universities," Manchin said in a statement.“Our bipartisan legislation strikes a balance between protecting the rights of student-athletes and maintaining the integrity of college sports."

Said Tuberville, in a statement: "We need to ensure the integrity of our higher education system, remain focused on education, and keep the playing field level. Our legislation … will set basic rules nationwide, protect our student-athletes, and keep NIL activities from ending college sports as we know it.”

As with the draft from Blumenthal, Moran and Booker, the bill would provide for greater health insurance for athletes than is currently in place by schools and the NCAA.

However, while the draft from Blumenthal, Moran and Booker calls for the establishment of a new, non-governmental entity to oversee new standards that would be put in place, the announcement from Tuberville and Manchin says their bill would direct the NCAA "to oversee and investigate NIL activities and report violations to the Federal Trade Commission.