House cancels vote on college sports NIL bill

House leaders canceled a vote Wednesday on a bill that would create a national framework for college athletes to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness, known as NIL deals.

The measure had been teed up for a floor debate and vote Wednesday afternoon but apparently did not have enough votes to pass after a handful of Freedom Caucus members aired concerns. 

“The SCORE Act (college sports) is well-intended but falls short and is not ready for prime time,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, posted Wednesday ahead of the scheduled floor debate. “Why is Congress even involved?” 

An aide familiar with discussions said opposition is steep enough that leadership likely won’t attempt to bring it to the floor later this week, either. With a slim majority, House Republicans can only afford to lose a few GOP votes when Democrats oppose a bill.

The bill from Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., would codify college athletics rules changes and preempt conflicting state laws on the legal right of athletes to sign NIL deals. It would also give the NCAA and major sports conferences limited immunity from future lawsuits. 

[Related: Should college athletes be employees? House panels say no]

Advocates of the measure say it sets universities and athletes on “stable ground” and shields the NCAA and conferences from continuous challenges from college athletes, who point to billion-dollar deals for broadcast rights to games and other agreements.

Although the majority of House Republicans support the measure, the rule allowing for floor consideration of the measure barely squeaked by as Roy and Republicans Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Byron Donalds of Florida joined Democrats in opposing it.

Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., is also opposed to the bill in its current form, although he voted in favor of the rule. Baumgartner had introduced an amendment during consideration at the Rules Committee that sought to extend restrictions on coaches, including one to cap coach compensation.

Roy, in his post, criticized the bill for not extending restrictions for contracts and buyouts to coaches, who currently receive “absurd contracts” during and after employment. He also echoed Democrats’ concerns over language that “empowers” the NCAA, which he said “failed miserably to protect college sports & athletes for decades.”

Roy wrote that “the bill leaves decision-making heavily to the ncaa & the absurdly massive super conferences that have given us a broken college football system rather than just fixing it & restoring smaller conferences that reflect regional traditions, sanity, and limiting travel absurdities.”

Democrats largely oppose the bill, arguing that language that would ban college athletes from being employees of the universities they play for boxes athletes out of workforce benefits and unionization opportunities. 

House Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., at a Rules Committee meeting Monday, called the measure a “giant gift” to the NCAA, adding it “does not reflect the concerns of the Democratic Party or the Democratic leadership” despite six Democratic co-sponsors.