The US Senate recently passed the Protect College Sports Act, legislation that could have far-reaching implications for student-athletes, including their bargaining power, transfer opportunities, and eligibility rights.
The bill includes several provisions aimed at benefiting athletes, such as health and safety standards and mandated student-athlete representation on athletic governing boards. At the same time, it would grant the NCAA a partial antitrust exemption, providing greater authority to enforce certain transfer and eligibility rules.
McCarter & English partner Ira Gonzalez, who has been closely monitoring the bill, spoke with Bloomberg Law Texas Brief about its potential impact. Ira noted that increasing the revenue sharing cap could be detrimental to smaller schools’ ability to recruit and retain athletes, potentially widening the competitive gap across college sports.
“Even certain Power Four schools that are not as competitive as some of the others — frankly, they can’t even walk through the door on competitiveness at this point,” he said.