On Thursday, a group of U.S. Senators unveiled a “Bill of Rights” for college athletes to come to “revenue-sharing agreements” with the NCAA. The legislation also details ways in which a college athlete to capitalize on their name, image, and more, whether alone or with a team.
The bill also creates new safety standards, provides better healthcare, and improve educational outcomes for players with things like lifetime college scholarships. It also calls to end the requirement that athletes sit out if they change or withdraw from school.
Ten Senators plan to introduce a “college athletes bill of rights” aiming to guarantee NCAA athletes monetary compensation, long-term healthcare and more eligibility freedoms https://t.co/gHkJG7VfmT
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) August 13, 2020
Senator Cory Booker, a former Stanford football player, says the federal government has to “create a system that the NCAA clearly has not been willing to do on it’s [sic] own.” Senator Chris Murphy told USA Today “We can’t just return to business as usual – where a multi-billion dollar industry lines the pockets of predominantly white executive while all-majority Black athletes can’t profit from their labor.”
Is it time for the NCAA to give college athletes a way to profit from their work? What are the biggest pros and cons of allowing college athletes to profit from their time on the field or the court?