Senators largely agreed Tuesday that college sports are overdue for a national standard that provides guardrails for “name, image, and likeness” (NIL) deals involving student athletes.  

“If this committee does not act within a year, this thing is going to be an absolute mess, and you will destroy college athletics as you know it,” said Senate Judiciary ranking member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) during a Tuesday hearing on the topic.  

Committee Chairman Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) agreed, saying, “The system of college athletics is in need of reform. The system all too long has been exploitative and abusive, emotionally [and] physically.” 

While the NCAA lifted a ban on student-athletes being paid for promotions two years ago, there has been a complete lack of federal direction on the issue, leaving states to develop their own regulations.  

Without congressional intervention and a national standard, the confusion would remain, said Tony Petitti, a commissioner for the Big Ten conference. 

“We will have a system dictated by a myriad of state laws,” he said.  

Some witnesses argued that the patchwork of laws across the nation has added to the already unequal playing field when it comes to NIL. 

“The patchwork of conflicting state laws governing what is and is not permissible in the NIL space are confusing to everyone, especially the student-athletes, and they create a profoundly unequal playing field for colleges and universities,” said Jill Bodensteiner, director of athletics at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. 

The lack of a national standard also contributes to a disparity in earnings among sports, said Trinity Thomas, a former gymnast at the University of Florida. 

Football and basketball remain the most lucrative college sports, with some of the top athletes earning six to seven figures from NIL deals, while student-athletes in other sports struggle to make anything. A national standard would help bridge this gap, said Thomas.  

“This will create equal opportunity for all student-athletes to benefit from NIL and will create a uniform standard to ensure we’re all playing by the same rules and eliminate confusion and unfair advantage,” she said. “A federal law will also have the benefit of ensuring the future of sports like gymnastics are protected.” 

Panelists were less keen on the idea of making student-athletes university employees. 

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked the panel of witnesses their thoughts on allowing student-athletes to unionize, which would require them to be officially employed by the university.  

“It completely changes everything about what it means to be a student-athlete,” said Charlie Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts and current president of the National College Athletic Association, or NCAA. 

Other witnesses agreed, saying making student-athletes into employees takes away the “student” part of their identity. Panelists said such a designation would raise a series of legal issues that most student-athletes would rather avoid.  

“Saint Joseph’s student-athletes are adamant that they do not want to be employees of the University,” Bodensteiner said. “They do not want to apply for posted positions. They do not want to go through the state workers’ compensation system for their injuries. They do not want to punch a time clock, and stress about what is considered compensable time under the Fair Labor Standards Act.” 

While a number of proposals are floating around Congress on what federal regulation of NIL deals might look like, Blumenthal said the need to do something was clear.  

“I think one of the objectives here is to guarantee fairness and protection to athletes in all schools in all sports,” Blumenthal said at the close of the hearing.  

“I think that one point that comes across loud and clear is that the present system is not working. It is broken, and the corrective action taken so far is commendable but so far inadequate and that congress has to do its job and protect student athletes.”