How election impacts future of college sports, NCAA

As votes were counted on Tuesday night, the future of college sports played out. The 2024 election, both presidential and congressional, will impact multiple college athletics issues.

As part of the House v. NCAA settlement agreement, the NCAA hopes to establish a new enforcement entity with court backing to limit the role of collectives. Even though the settlement lays out the framework for an NIL arbiter, Congress will need to step in. State laws will continue to supersede the settlement without lawmakers’ help.

NCAA president Charlie Baker, the former Massachusetts governor, has repeatedly made trips to Washington, D.C., since June 2022 to lobby lawmakers. Over 10 bills have been floated but none have moved forward.

“There were too many people in college sports that thought no rules would work well for them. And what everyone has discovered is no rules, no transparency, no accountability, no framework doesn’t work well for anybody. That’s one of the reasons why I think it’s possible Congress may be interested in doing something about this.”

On3 is breaking down what the election results mean for college athletics:

Congress

Multiple sources have told On3 in recent weeks that Sen. Ted Cruz is working on new legislation and has held meetings with Power Four schools to hammer out a bill. Cruz won his Senate race in Texas against Democrat and former Baylor linebacker Colin Allred.

Cruz’s victory is critical for college sports stakeholders who believe in uniform state NIL laws and athletes not earning employment status. Sources told On3 that Cruz’s goal is for a bill to be introduced later in early 2025. Even with the House v. NCAA settlement, college sports leaders are seeking power for uniform state NIL laws and enshrining the terms of the settlement, a source told On3.

With his win, that remains on track. And as a ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Cruz has the position and political clout to push through legislation. He previously held a roundtable with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban and the Cavinder Twins, among others.

The Republicans have flipped the Senate, meaning Cruz will chair the Senate Commerce Committee, which controls possible college sports legislation. As of Wednesday morning, House races are still being sorted out.

“And I can promise you,” Cruz said in front of media before Texas A&M’s game against Notre Dame, “if and when I’m the chairman of the commerce committee, NIL reform, ensuring real competitiveness, so that these programs can continue going on for years and decades and centuries, that is going to be a very, very high priority.”

Republicans and Democrats have long fought over the exact items included in bills addressing college sports, specifically whether athletes should earn a share of revenue or be classified as employees. Democrats have leaned toward a split of revenue and health and safety assurances, while some Republican-led bills include language making sure athletes would not be classified as employees. 

White House

Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States, significantly impacting the future of college athletes being classified as employees. It’s been more than two years since National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued her memorable September 2021 memo in which she said “certain players at academic institutions are statutory employees who have the right to act collectively to improve their terms and conditions of employment.”

The memo set the tone that the current national National Labor Relations Board is in favor of athlete employment. There was a clear push for an athletic team to go through the NLRB process when the Biden Administration was still in office.

That has now changed. The Boston-based National Labor Relations Board regional director ordered a union election for the men’s basketball players at Dartmouth in February, concluding that the athletes are employees of the college within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. The team later voted to become a union but the school refused to collectively bargain. Dartmouth also filed an appeal and the case could eventually make its way to the Supreme Court, which would be a years-long process.

There’s also the National Labor Relations Board trial involving USC, the Pac-12 Conference and the NCAA. The NCAA is also fighting the employment battle in the Johnson v. NCAA lawsuit. The plaintiffs are asking athletes to be deemed employees subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act.