Gabe Evans Presses Witnesses On Providing Students Athletes 'Guidance' To Navigate NIL Regulation

4 days ago

During a House Commerce Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO) spoke about what 'guidance' student athletes need to navigate NIL rules.

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00:00or not, but you're recognized for your five minutes of questioning.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You'd be a great witness, by the way.

00:09Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the Ranking Member and to the witnesses. No,

00:13they're actually just outside of my district, but I am honored to be representing the University

00:19of Northern Colorado, where we have student athletes who, of course, will be directly

00:23impacted by the NIL reforms that we're discussing here today. I've had the chance to hear from this

00:29institution about some of the needs for federal regulation to set those basic rules of the road

00:34for all schools and ensure that we're setting up our student athletes for success. They're a big

00:39sky conference member with a very, I think they have the highest graduation rate, actually,

00:44in a very good sports program, and so look forward to working with them to be able to just

00:49explore how we can get this critical work done. And so my first question with that

00:54back story is to Ms. Cole. Again, University of Northern Colorado, they have that very,

01:01very crucial role of setting up their student athletes for success, not just in college,

01:06but for the rest of their lives. But as we've heard, we have situations where student athletes

01:12can get in trouble with owing back taxes or being taken advantage of or exploited, and so

01:18just want to hear a little bit about your experience in how, as a student athlete,

01:22you can navigate the NIL landscape responsibly and how institutions and conferences can play

01:29a role in making sure that students get the appropriate guidance to navigate that situation.

01:36Absolutely. Thank you so much for your question, Congressman Evans. I actually spoke on two

01:42different panels at the NIL Summit, which started obviously right after the laws changed,

01:47for Invesco, and then Robinhood, to really bring up the importance of awareness around these topics

01:52and education for student athletes, especially in such a new and ill-defined space. And I think

02:00it's extremely important that we put in programs to help make sure these student athletes are

02:06educated in a way that they can go into these decisions informed to really set themselves up

02:12in the best position to thrive, both during and after their collegiate careers.

02:17Thank you. And kind of continuing on that same vein of questioning, Mr. Egbo,

02:22you serve some time on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. Can you just talk a little

02:27bit about how that exposed you to some of the decision-making processes for your athletic

02:32department? Yes, I was on SAC for my institution president, then representative of my conference,

02:40and then now sit on National SAC, which I'm on visual and council with Josh. Integrated in every

02:47level of governance and decision-making at the national level, 32 reps, one from each

02:52division one conference. We sit on every voting standing committee on council and board of

02:56directors and board of governors. So just being exposed to that and also trying to, you know,

03:02create more avenues, like Josh mentioned earlier, to give student athletes more decision-making

03:06influence and voice is very important, but we are integrated in it and there's a system

03:11in place right now to have that continue to be built up. Thank you. And then to Mr. Whitman,

03:19you know, we've heard today about some of the good work that institutions are doing to make sure that

03:23they're taking care of their student athletes, but we also understand that there is a need for,

03:28again, just basic rules of the road legislation. For example, one thing that I specifically heard

03:33from my athletic director at the University of Northern Colorado, and it seems to be a concern

03:37that y'all are facing as well, is last week CBS Sports obtained a draft bill from the Capitol in

03:44Springfield to exempt NIL payments from state income tax, which is modeled after some policies

03:49in other states. And so the question is, do you think that that patchwork where some states are

03:55able to exempt those payments from income tax gives a competitive advantage? And how do you

04:01think that affects the recruiting landscape without general rules of the road?

04:08Thank you for the question. And yes, I absolutely do think it's a competitive advantage and that's

04:13the kind of political maneuvering that we need to try and eliminate through the use of federal

04:19legislation. Right now we have this environment that makes it very difficult to compete on a

04:24level playing field, which is the point of college sports, is when Coach Beamer goes out on Saturday

04:30afternoon to know that he has the same opportunity for his team to be successful as those teams that

04:36he's competing against. And right now some of these state laws are creating inequity across

04:43our system that really can only be addressed through federal legislation. And so with my last

04:4820 seconds, just very briefly, how do you see such a piece of legislation structured to give the

04:54institutions the flexibility they need to be able to do the good work that many of them are doing,

04:58but also to provide that guidance? Ultimately, I think it's on two fronts.

05:05One is preemption, making sure that this new piece of legislation preempts state efforts to address

05:12some of the issues that are active in college athletics. And then secondly, as I discussed with

05:17Ms. Lee earlier, I think it's important that we create some limited antitrust safe harbor so that

05:23we have flexibility to manage our own house. And we've heard from you and your colleagues that

05:28people are interested in seeing college athletics step up and manage its own affairs. Thank you.

05:33We'd like to do that, but we need additional resources on the legal side to manage.

05:38Thank you. Yield back. Gentlemen, yield back.

Gabe Evans Presses Witnesses On Providing Students Athletes 'Guidance' To Navigate NIL Regulation

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