SCORE Act
House Committee Advances SCORE Act to Set National Rules for College Athlete Pay
Stalled
No legislative action in over 90 days.
Legislative Progress
Key Points
- This bill creates national rules for how college athletes make money from endorsements. It stops schools from blocking these deals but sets limits to ensure the money is for actual business work. This is meant to stop "pay-for-play" where boosters use fake deals to lure top players to specific schools.
- Schools making over $20 million a year from sports must provide better health and education benefits. This includes paying for sports-related medical bills for three years after a student leaves school and offering financial aid to help former players come back and finish their degrees for up to seven years.
- The bill legally defines college athletes as students, not employees. This means they cannot be treated like school staff, which prevents them from forming unions or suing for employee rights. This would apply across the whole country, replacing different rules in different states.
- To protect regular students from rising costs, big-budget schools that make $50 million or more from TV deals can no longer charge students extra fees to fund sports. All schools would also have to clearly list on their websites exactly how much money they take from student fees to pay for athletic programs.
- The plan protects athletes from being taken advantage of by capping sports agent fees at 5% of any endorsement deal. It also allows athletes to transfer to a new school at least once without losing their right to play immediately, provided they are in good academic standing.
Impact Analysis
Personal Impact
Life & Work
The bill explicitly declares that college athletes cannot be considered employees of their school, conference, or athletic association. This would block any path for college athletes to unionize or gain collective bargaining rights, overriding recent legal efforts and NLRB rulings that were moving toward recognizing athletes as employees. This provision preempts all state and federal labor law on this question.
Programs
Disabilities
Milestones
Rules Committee Resolution H. Res. 916 Reported to House. Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 4312, H.R. 1005, H.R. 1049, H.R. 1069, H.R. 2965 and H.R. 4305. The resolution provides for consideration of H.R. 4312, H.R. 1005, H.R. 1049, H.R. 1069, H.R. 2965, and H.R. 4305 under a closed rule with one hour of general debate and one motion to recommit on each bill.
Supplemental report filed by the Committee on Education and Workforce, H. Rept. 119-270, Part IV.
Supplemental report filed by the Committee on Energy and Commerce, H. Rept. 119-270, Part III.
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 226.
The bill is now on the schedule for the full chamber to consider. It's in line for debate and a vote.
Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Education and Workforce. H. Rept. 119-270, Part II.
Votes
No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.
Related News
2 articlesSCORE Act, a bill alter that would the landscape of college sports, has been formally introduced in U.S. House
The SCORE Act (Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements) establishes federal standards for NIL, mandates healthcare coverage for ex-athletes for three years, and maintains that athletes are students, not employees, preventing them from forming unions.
'IT'S BROKEN': Lawmaker sounds alarm on college athlete pay issue
Rep. Tim Walberg discussed the stalling of the SCORE Act in the House after leadership canceled a planned vote. While supporters see it as a necessary step to treat athletes as students first, some Republicans joined Democrats in criticizing the bill as a 'band-aid' on a larger mess.
Source Information
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
SCORE Act
Data Sources
Sponsor
Cosponsors
(22)Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.