CEI In Support of the SCORE Act and Opposition to the SAFE Act

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Dear Speaker Johnson,

We write today in support of H.R. 4312, the “Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act.”

The SCORE Act is the free market, individual liberty, limited government fix to the “name, image, and likeness (NIL)” issue in college athletics.

In 2021, the case before the Supreme Court resulted in schools gaining freedom to offer additional education-related benefits to students, which set the stage for an expansion of NIL rights. In the years since, a patchwork of confusing state laws have been enacted, which cry out for a federal solution to create unified NIL rules that are consistent for everyone.

The SCORE Act is the constitutional, conservative, and common-sense way to establish these rules and preempt the hodgepodge of state laws.

H.R. 4312 prohibits trial lawyers from suing under federal or state antitrust law. It also provides that athletes receiving NIL compensation need not be employees of these universities, protecting them from compulsory unionization. This means student-athletes can be treated as small business owners, not unionized workers.

The Left’s proposed framework to regulate NIL would be a disaster. Known as the “SAFE Act,” it would open the door for trial lawyers to frivolously sue athletic departments and conferences. It could also require student-athletes to be classified as employees, forcing many of them into unions, using merely the predicate of NIL compensation.

Bizarrely, the SAFE Act would also create a socialized college sports media contract, imposing a  national government board to negotiate for all colleges. Washington bureaucrats should not be

in the business of negotiating sports television and streaming rights.

Thirty-one Division I athletic conferences with wide-ranging membership, from schools with small budgets to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), have publicly endorsed the SCORE Act as the solution to protecting opportunities for student-athletes. The path forward is clear. We urge you to support the SCORE Act and oppose the Big Government SAFE Act.

Sincerely,

Ryan Ellis

Center for a Free Economy

James Martin

60 Plus Association

Larry Ward

Constitutional Rights PAC

John Tamney

Parkview Institute

Diego Lopez Maradona

DL Maradona Foundation

Norm Singleton

US Policy

Joshua Delano

Southeast Texans for Liberty

Peter Sepp

National Taxpayers Union

Charles Sauer

Market Institute

Palmer Schoening

Family Business Coalition

George Landrith

Frontiers of Freedom

C. Preston Noell III

Tradition, Family, Property

Chadwick Hagan

Founding Principles Coalition

Thomas J. Norton

America First PACT

Phil Kerpen

American Commitment

Sean Higgins

Competitive Enterprise Institute

Saul Anuzis

American Association of Senior Citizens

Patrick M. Brenner

Southwest Public Policy Center

Karen Kerrigan

Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council

Mario H. Lopez

Hispanic Leadership Fund

Jeff Cargerman

Inventor’s Project

Colonel Rob Maness

Gator PAC

Steve Moore

Committee to Unleash Prosperity