My pitch to "fix" college sports: the SUBSCRIBE TO EXTRA POINTS Act

Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.

Quick housekeeping note: For those who like podcasts, I appeared on Friend of the Newsletter Split Zone Duo this week for a longer conversation about a White House College Sports Commission, the politics of college sports regulation, FOIAing UNC every few days, and more. It’s free!

Speaking of politics and college sports…

I have a potentially unpopular opinion. I’ve come to believe that Congress actually does need to get involved in college sports.

I understand that the popularity of Congress sits somewhere between “getting kicked in the shins” and “the Cordyceps fungus from the Last of Us”, and for good reason. I understand that as a country, we have, uh, not always sent our best and brightest to serve in the halls of our legislative branch. I know this isn’t an ideal solution.

But I also think most Extra Points readers would agree that the status quo in college sports, while better than it was in the past, isn’t healthy. 

If you’re somebody that wants the NCAA to be able to pass and enforce basic NIL or transfer portal guidelines or structure, you need Congress to give the organization an antitrust exemption. Otherwise, virtually any rule enforcement is destined for the courts.

If you’re somebody that wants big time colleges to collectively bargain with athletes to establish structures…well, you almost certainly require Congress for that too. Currently, athletes aren’t employees, and too many states have rules limiting the bargaining rights of public employees to make voluntary recognition possible without more lawsuits. 

Even if you want the status quo to mostly continue, but with some basic contractural standards and consumer protection efforts around agents? Or for somebody to clarify how international athletes can be paid? That, too, is the purview of the federal government. 

I’ve been critical of many of the proposed college sports bills that have come out of Congress. In my view, most of the proposals were altogether too deferential to the NCAA, or lacked enforcement mechanisms, or weren’t close to politically palpable. There’s a reason almost every college sports related bill has died in committee so far. 

But hey, it’s to lob critiques from the cheap seats, right? Like I’ve said multiple times, I don’t want Extra Points to just complain about how stuff sucks. I have a Bluesky account, after all. Instead, I’d like to be part of the solution. And if I can do that while making people laugh or think, well, all the better. 

So in the spirit of trying to serve my country, I’d like to propose a potential framework for congressional action. I wanted to sketch out a bill that I think a) could actually attract bipartisan support, b) addresses many of the biggest issues in college sports governance and c) is written in something resembling plain English.

I’d like to call this bill the Safeguarding University Budgets and Supporting Collegiate Rights (via) Independent Bargaining and Enforcement To Organize Equity in Xfer (Transfer) Tracking and Realistic Athlete Protection Over Inflated NCAA Tactics and Strategies Act. 

Or, for short, the SUBSCRIBE TO EXTRA POINTS Act. 

Article 1. Temporary Labor Peace in our Time

1) The SUBSCRIBE TO EXTRA POINTS ACT is set to sunset in its entirety on July 1, four years after the bill is signed, unless Congress reauthorizes the bill.

2) Congress will grant a temporary, limited, and conditional antitrust protection to the NCAA and member conferences. If the NCAA or member conferences are not in compliance with the terms of this protection, this protection can be revoked prior to the sunsetting of the bill.

3) This antitrust protection is limited to protecting the NCAA’s ability to execute the provisions of the House v NCAA settlement, and to executing the additional provisions in this bill. It would not protect the NCAA, conferences or member institutions from any Antitrust lawsuits that are beyond the scope of the House settlement.

4) While the SUBSCRIBE TO EXTRA POINTS ACT is in effect, college athletes (across NCAA DI, DII or DIII, as well as non-NCAA college athletic associations such as the NAIA) will not be classified as employees under the FLSA.

5) College athletes participating at the DI level in Football, Men’s Basketball and Women’s Basketball, while not employees, are granted the ability to collectively bargain with the NCAA, member institutions and/or member conferences. Athletes in these three sports will be considered seperate bargining units of one large advovacy group, stuctured like the Actors Equity Association. Athletes will not be able to specifically bargin on wage-related issues, but can bargin on non-wage grounds, including but not limited to Scholarships, Health Care, Working Conditions, Schedules, Grievances against Coaches, and the Transfer Portal. This bargaining would be conducted via a trade association or representative, to be approved by at least 50% of scholarship players in that specific sport, no later than July 1, 2027. Athletes in these three sports will be considered seperate bargining units of one large advovacy group, stuctured like the Actors Equity Association.

IN PLAIN ENGLISH:

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