This bill would change the Higher Education Act so that colleges that participate in federal student aid programs generally may not allow a person who is under a professional sports contract to compete for the college in that same sport. A "professional sports contract" is a contract that pays a salary, signing bonus, or other compensation for athletic services. Agreements that only pay for use of a person’s name, image, or likeness (NIL) and do not require athletic services are excluded.
The Department of Education (the Secretary) would issue guidance on how colleges should check whether a prospective or current student-athlete is a professional athlete and would provide a process for schools or officials to request a written determination about an individual’s status. If a college lets a professional-contract athlete compete in violation of this rule, that violation would be treated as a breach of the college’s Title IV program participation agreement and could lead to enforcement actions available to the Secretary.
An individual who signed a professional contract can avoid being treated as a professional athlete under this law only if they rescind the contract in writing before receiving any compensation or providing any athletic services, and notify both the college and the professional sports organization. The bill also says current competitors who already are under professional contract and competing in college at the time the law is enacted are temporarily exempt until the first academic year after enactment.
The bill creates a new federal criminal offense for a covered athletics official who knowingly recruits, offers to enroll, signs, certifies eligibility for, or otherwise causes to compete a person the official knows to be a professional athlete in violation of the rule. The criminal offense applies if the activity affects interstate or foreign commerce or if the institution received more than $10,000 in Federal assistance in the prior year. The base penalty is a fine and/or up to 5 years in prison, with an enhanced penalty of up to 10 years if the act was for financial gain or part of a pattern. A covered athletics official may assert an affirmative defense if they reasonably relied on a written Department of Education determination that the person was not a professional athlete. The law does not create criminal liability for the institution as an organization.
The criminal penalty provisions take effect on the date of enactment for conduct after that date. The Title IV funding condition takes effect on the first day of the first academic year after enactment, except for the transition rule for current competitors.
No publicly available information.
The bill’s findings say the Federal Government provides substantial financial assistance to colleges, that college sports have historically been organized as competition among student-athletes not simultaneously under professional contract, and that allowing professional-contract athletes to compete at colleges blurs the amateur/professional distinction and may disadvantage student-athletes who are not under professional contract. The bill frames conditioning Title IV eligibility as an appropriate tool to preserve that distinction and to hold institutions accountable.
No publicly available information.