College sports are uniquely American. They’re a source of excitement and pride not only for myself, but for millions of athletes, students, alumni, and fans across the nation. I know firsthand the impact sports can have as a fan and former student athlete. Today, the landscape of college sports is evolving at an increasingly chaotic pace with no clear guidelines or guardrails—creating an unfair and unsustainable environment for coaches, players, and fans.
We must preserve the future of college sports–while protecting our student-athletes and the fan-driven atmosphere that makes college sports special. Congress has a clear opportunity to step in now to restore order to a system that has grown increasingly unbalanced. If we don’t act now, the problems facing our athletes and institutions will only get worse—doing nothing is no longer an option.
I’m presenting my blueprint of commonsense ideas that can (would link pdf here when approved) to fix college sports and shape the conversation as Congress works on meaningful legislation to address these issues.
PILLAR I: Ending Rulemaking by Lawsuit
The current environment of “policymaking by courtroom default” creates chaos that rewards the loudest litigants rather than student-athlete welfare.
- Antitrust Safe Harbor: Create a narrow, conditional safe harbor to allow schools and conferences to adopt uniform, athlete-protective rules without the threat of immediate, freezing litigation.
- National Standardization: Replace the current patchwork of conflicting state NIL laws with one federal standard to ensure competitive balance.
- Governance Flexibility: Allow conferences to choose their own governing bodies under federal oversight, recognizing that, in a new era of college athletics, this may warrant a shifting governance model.
PILLAR II: Putting Players First, A Commonsense Approach
College sports must remain a “time-limited educational opportunity” rather than a short-term professional career.
- One-Time Transfer Baseline: Restore roster stability with a national one-time transfer rule, aligning athlete mobility with academic calendars. Governing bodies can grant waivers for coach movement and unforeseen circumstances.
- Eligibility Guardrails: Reaffirm eligibility standards to prevent older, professionalized rosters from displacing high school recruits and undermining development pathways.
- Coaching Accountability: Align coaching transitions with transfer windows to minimize disruption to athletes’ academic and competitive lives.
PILLAR III: Restoring NIL, Not Pay-for-Play
The goal is to return NIL to its original purpose, marketable endorsements, while institutionalizing direct revenue sharing.
- Bona Fide NIL: Require verification that NIL compensation is for services rendered at fair market value, prohibiting “sham contracts” used for recruiting incentives.
- Revenue Sharing and Caps: Authorize direct compensation from schools to student-athletes and permit a governing body to adopt salary caps to ensure long-term financial sustainability.
- Protecting Olympic and Women’s Sports: Safeguard non-revenue sports by ensuring a certain number of varsity sports are maintained by schools.
PILLAR IV: Ensuring College Sports Endure
Beyond the challenges around NIL, Congress should take a hard look at the growing financial strain facing college sports. We need to have a true debate on this issue. It won’t be easy, there are strong and sensible positions on each side of this debate, but policymakers should ask a basic question: are college sports getting fair value for what they produce and what is the best way to ensure they are strong for the long-term?
- Reevaluating the Media Deals: College football consistently attracts large national audiences, yet overall media revenues don’t match those of other professional sports leagues. This gap suggests there are real opportunities to modernize and optimize media deals in ways that grow total revenue rather than simply reshuffle them.
- Restoring Stability: Ongoing conference realignment shows schools are seeking greater financial predictability and competitive stability. Recent realignment decisions highlight the importance of examining what underlying financial incentives are driving these shifts.
- Long-Term Success: Discussions around any potential proposals that open up or amend the Sports Broadcasting Act should focus on keeping college athletics healthy for the long haul. The purpose is to increase overall revenue so that more schools remain competitive, protect women’s and Olympic sports, and ensure long-term sustainability.
As I work with my colleagues in the Senate to address the issues facing college sports today, I also want to hear from you. Fill out the form below to tell me what you want to see fixed in college sports. Whether you’re an athlete, coach, or fan—I want to know what you think.
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