Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced a bill that would protect the NCAA from being challenged in court if they changed their rules that would allow athletes to earn endorsements. For years there have plenty of discussions and arguments that athletes should be allowed to earn money while remaining eligible to play in collegiate sports. If schools are allowed to bank on the athletes, then why not the athletes themselves?
The Big 12 Conference’s website released the following statement from Commissioner Bob Bowlsby.
We are grateful for Senator Rubio’s consideration of the needs of America’s student-athletes. A nationwide system of rules is imperative to national recruitment and fair competition. We look forward to collaborating with our elected officials to affect the necessary change.
Further, we are committed to working with policymakers to craft a system that permits student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness while also maintaining our uniquely American, education-based collegiate athletics model.
Recently the state of Florida passed their own law that would allow athletes to cash in on their name, image and likeness. The bill introduced by Rubio would make one uniform law versus having 50 different states having different laws. Which could shift the competitive balance if one state’s law allowed for athletes to make more in one particular state versus another.
It protects the athletes. It allows them to be compensated. These kids deserve to make a little bit of money while they’re in college, at the same time it prevents the implosion of college athletics. – Senator Rubio