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Standard Summary
Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs
The SCORE Act (Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act) seeks to protect student-athletes’ rights to earn from their name, image, and likeness (NIL) while creating a nationwide framework to promote fair competition in intercollegiate athletics. It prohibits colleges, conferences, and intercollegiate associations from restricting NIL agreements, sets rules for transparency and governance around NIL deals, and establishes minimum support requirements for student-athletes (academic, health, and career services) funded in a manner intended to safeguard athletes regardless of athletic success. The bill also creates financial accountability mechanisms (such as a pool-based limit on NIL-related compensation funded from college sports revenue), imposes disclosure and data-sharing requirements on associations, and provides enforcement pathways for states and the federal government. It explicitly preempts conflicting state laws and would require ongoing federal reporting and oversight. In short, SCORE aims to empower student-athletes to monetize NIL rights, impose guardrails to prevent abusive or conflicted arrangements, ensure robust athlete support, and standardize governance and transparency across intercollegiate athletics to level the playing field across institutions and States.
Key Points
- 1NIL rights and protections for student-athletes
- 2- Institutions, conferences, and interstate associations may not prohibit a student-athlete from entering NIL agreements, except where the agreement involves prohibited compensation or conflicts with institutional codes or existing contracts.
- 3- Student-athletes have the right to representation by an agent, with additional disclosure and consent requirements for agents.
- 4- Privacy protections ensure that information about NIL deals is not released without the athlete’s written consent.
- 5Prohibited compensation and agent rules
- 6- Prohibited compensation includes payments that violate fair market terms or that exceed a set pool limit. The SCORE Act also adds or adjusts penalties and termination rights for agency contracts, including a 6-month post-enrollment termination window.
- 7- The bill adds transparency and disclosure requirements for athlete agents, including whether an agent is registered with a state association and/or with the institution’s interstate association, and requires written consent for non-registered agents.
- 8Financial governance: pool limit and compensation oversight
- 9- Establishes a pool-based limit on total compensation that may be provided to student-athletes (including NIL and other forms) within an interstate association’s rules; the pool is calculated as a percentage of college sports revenue and is designed to ensure overall compensation remains within defined limits.
- 10- The pool limit is tied to a percentage of average annual revenue of top-earning member institutions and is monitored by the interstate association.
- 11Roles and governance of interstate associations
- 12- Interstate associations are authorized to establish and enforce rules on NIL disclosures, data collection and publication (aggregated and anonymized), recruitment windows, dispute resolution related to compensation, and the pool limit.
- 13- Governance requirements include ensuring diverse, athlete-inclusive representation on decision-making bodies (minimum percentages of current/former athletes and non-top-earning institutions) and creating a primary deliberative council representing each conference.
- 14Institutional responsibilities (Section 5)
- 15- Institutions must provide comprehensive academic and career support for student-athletes, including mental health, nutrition, financial literacy, and NIL-related legal advice.
- 16- Institutions must provide medical and health benefits for student-athletes during enrollment and for a period after graduation, plus independent medical care structures and insured coverage for injuries.
- 17- Grant-in-aid protections persist regardless of athletic performance, injury, or NIL income.
- 18- Degree completion programs must be offered to former student-athletes who received aid but did not graduate.
- 19- Institutions must maintain at least 16 varsity sports teams by a specified deadline (July 1, 2027).
- 20Employment status and eligibility
- 21- The act preserves the non-employee status of student-athletes for purposes of intercollegiate participation (i.e., participating as a student-athlete does not automatically create employee status at the institution, conference, or association).
- 22Transparency of student athletic fees (Section 9)
- 23- Requires disclosure about student fees that support intercollegiate athletic programs, including uses (facilities, operating expenses, scholarships, salaries, etc.) and what percentage of total program costs these fees cover.
- 24- Institutions hosting high-media-rights-revenue programs (based on a revenue threshold) may restrict the use of student fees for athletic programs in the following fiscal year.
- 25- Requires annual publication of this fee information on the institution’s website.
- 26Preemption and enforcement (Section 10)
- 27- Federal law would preempt conflicting state or local laws that regulate compensation, eligibility, or NIL licensing in intercollegiate athletics.
- 28- The act preserves other general laws and common law outside antitrust and similar provisions.
- 29Oversight, reporting, and studies (Section 11)
- 30- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would study a government-supported independent agent-regulation program, with a final report and legislative recommendations within a year of enactment.
- 31- Interstate associations would submit biennial compliance reports to Congress, and the Comptroller General would conduct periodic investigations on compliance.
Impact Areas
Primary group/area affected- Current and prospective student-athletes: explicit protections and rights to NIL income, improved access to agents with disclosure requirements, and stronger support services (mental health, financial literacy, career guidance).Secondary group/area affected- Colleges, universities, conferences, and interstate associations: new rules governing NIL disclosures, data sharing, recruitment timelines, and pool-based compensation limits; governance reforms for athlete representation on boards; mandatory support programs and minimum program size (16 varsity teams by 2027).Additional impacts- Intercollegiate athletic agents and agencies: new disclosure/registration requirements, potential 5% cap on agent compensation from a NIL deal under certain conditions, and federal study of a standardized agent-regulation program.- State attorneys general: expanded enforcement avenues via parens patriae for Oklahoma-style or similar actions to address NIL-related violations (subject to the act’s framework).- Taxpayers and public: potential cost implications of enhanced student-athlete supports, health benefits, and governance structures; increased transparency around student fees and athletic program funding.- Antitrust landscape: the act provides safe harbors for rules adopted under SCORE’s framework, while preserving general antitrust limitations and other applicable laws.Pool limit: a cap on total compensation that institutions within an association may collectively pay to student-athletes, determined as a share of the association’s revenue.Prohibited compensation: payments or licenses that do not meet fair-market terms or that exceed the pool limit.Interstate intercollegiate athletic association: a multi-state body that sets rules for member institutions, including NIL governance and eligibility standards.Associated entity/individual: parties connected to an institution that influence NIL opportunities or recruitment, potentially subject to scrutiny under the act’s definitions to avoid conflicts of interest or illegal compensation schemes.
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