All Hogs

Arkansas congressmen Womack, Westerman talk about NIL bill in Congress

SCORE Act regains momentum after stalling, Razorbacks waiting for result
Daniel Shi|
Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey speaks during SEC Media Day at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Mountain Brook Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2024.
Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey speaks during SEC Media Day at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Mountain Brook Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2024. | Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — As college athletics continues to evolve in the NIL and revenue sharing era, rules are ever changing and vary from state to state. Arkansas became the first state to pass a specific tax exemption for NIL earnings.

The Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act, introduced by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Florida) is the latest attempt from Congress to establish a national baseline for NIL regulation.

Congressman Bruce Westerman, who represents Arkansas' fourth congressional district, is one of the co-sponsors on the bill with Bilirakis.

House Bill 4312, aims to "protect the name, image, and likeness rights of student athletes and to promote fair competition with respect to intercollegiate athletics, and for other purposes."

The bill would overide current state laws to create a more uniform playing field. It would also introduce new rules, including capping agent fees at 5% of the NIL deal to avoid predatory agents, among other things.

You can read the full bill here.

In an August column, Westerman referenced the need for national oversight in a "wild wild west" era of college athletics.

"There is a need for its intervention following the Supreme Court’s ruling," Westerman said. "[It] allowed for pay-for-play in college sports. This is why I am a co-sponsor of the SCORE Act. This piece of legislation will offer a much-overdue solution by establishing a clear, nationwide NIL standard to empower college students as they receive compensation, transfer eligibility, and institutional responsibilities."

Any guardrails established so far in the new era of NIL has come from the courts. The landmark settlement in the case House v. NCAA created a path that allowed schools like Arkansas to pay athletes for the first time.

The settlement permits schools to pay $20.5 million of their revenue for the first year. Rules on the horizon have led coach Sam Pittman to make comments that the era of "inequality" will end after the 2025 season.

" If the rules go through and the law goes through that would be the last year for that [inequality]," Pittman said in August. "When we were all, even, we went from 4-20 to Top 20 when it was all even. This is the last year for that. And then we can compete financially with everybody and anybody."

Another piece of the puzzle comes from the potential passing of the SCORE Act, which has both the Big Ten and the SEC on board. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also spoke in support of the bill at the annual legislative conference for the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Thursday, according to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger. Others on the panel also referenced potential changes to the bill in its current form.

Republican congressman Steve Womack referenced the difference in rules that each state abides by.

"A patchwork of evolving regulations and state laws leave little consistency for colleges, conferences, coaches, and student athletes navigating today’s NIL landscape," Womack's office said in a statement to Razorbacks on SI. "Creating a stable regulatory environment for student athletes is crucial so they can benefit from their hard work, excel in the classroom, and win on the playing field."

The conference has also been running 30-second commercials during football games to tell viewers to call their congressional representative to support the bill and linked a recent column from former Indiana Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly's column published on The Hill as recently as Wednesday.

Opponents of the bill, including most Democrats in the House, say the bill gives an anti-trust exemption to the NCAA. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), who is also the chair of the CBC, gave a speech against the bill during a House Energy Committee hearing in August, saying that the bill would be better named as the "NCAA Wish List Act". There are six Democratic co-sponsors of the bill.

"I am deeply troubled by the antitrust exemption this bill would provide the NCAA and other athletic conferences," Clarke said. "Let me remind you all that antirust lawsuits brought by current and former players are the sole reason athletes have been able to achieve the gains of the last few years.

“If history is any guide, the NCAA and other athletic conferences simply cannot be trusted with creating fair guidelines that protect students and college athletes' ability to profit off their own name, image, and likeness."

Sankey pushed back on the idea that it was a antitrust exemption Thursday.

Per the same Dellenger report, Sankey characterized that portion of the bill as "limited liability protection" and "protection to enact these changes without being constantly sued."

Front Office Sports reported Sept. 10 that a House floor vote could be imminent within that week, but opposition arose from the other side of the aisle.

Cody Campbell, a former Texas Tech football player and major booster for the Red Raiders, came out against the original bill, prompting Republicans from his home state of Texas such as Wesley Hunt and Nathaniel Moran to express reservations about the bill.

All of this comes just days after Yurachek made his own comments about the need for additional regulation at the Little Rock Touchdown Club and admitting that the football program is "not set up to win a national championship."

"Until we get our [college athletics NIL] enforcement agency up and running, you're going to continue to have schools operating in that third lane and that's a bad place to be in my opinion," Yurachek said. "It's bad for college athletics. I don't want to operate there, but to be competitive, we may have to figure out what that third lane looks like for the University of Arkansas."

While Arkansas gets ready for one of the biggest home games of the Pittman era, there's a bigger fight happening thousands of miles away that could shape the long-term future of both the Razorbacks and college athletics.

• The offices of congressmen Rick Crawford and French Hill did not respond with comment in time for publication

HOGS FEED:

Published
Daniel Shi
DANIEL SHI

Covers baseball, football and basketball for Arkansas Razorback on SI since 2023, previously writing for FanSided. Currently a student at the University of Arkansas. He’s been repeatedly jaded by the Los Angeles Angels since 2014. Probably silently humming along to whatever the band is playing in the press box. Follow me on X: @dsh12

Home/Football