Bipartisan trio of senators drafts federal NIL rule

A bipartisan trio of senators is looking to standardize and regulate name, image and likeness rules for college athletes, Yahoo Sports reported.

Yahoo Sports received a draft of the bill, which was co-written by Kansas senator Jerry Moran, a Republican, along with New Jersey senator Cory Booker and Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal, who are Democrats.

The bill would set a national policy allowing college athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness, which would trump state policies, and create the College Athletics Corporation to administer the bill and create specific policies. The CAC would be overseen by a 15-member board that would include athletes.

National Collegiate Athletic Association, college leaders and coaches have pushed for Congress to intervene and provide guidelines on the use of NIL. In the absence of federal law, states have crafted their own policies, which NCAA officials say create an uneven playing field.

“Being a college athlete was one of the greatest gifts of my life—it opened doors of opportunity and offered lessons I carry with me to this day,” Booker said in a statement to Yahoo Sports. “But it also opened my eyes to some deep, systemic injustices in the system—a system that, to this day, continues to put profits over athletes. This bipartisan proposal represents a major step forward.”