What They Are Saying: Key Takeaways from House Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Hearing “Game Changer: the NLRB, Student-Athletes, and the Future of College Sports”
April 8, 2025
Witnesses: Mr. Daniel L. Nash, Shareholder, Littler; Ms. Morgyn Wynne, Former Softball Student Athlete, Oklahoma State University; Mr. Ramogi Huma, Executive Director, National College Players Association; and Ms. Jacqie McWilliams Parker, Commissioner, Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
The Value of College Athletics
Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA-12), Subcommittee Chair
“At its core, college sports are about enhancing student athletes in their academic experience as well as enhancing their career after graduation.”
Ms. Jacqie McWilliams Parker, Commissioner, Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
“The whole concept of being on a team, that experience by itself is powerful. You learn leadership and perseverance. There is something about college athletics that defines who we are as a country and who we are as a community."
Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA-6)
“College athletics have such an important place in our education system and American society. They represent more than just a sports team. They carry the legacy of a town, an institution, and a player’s dreams and accomplishments.”
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI-5)
“As a former athlete myself, the impact on my life was positive, and athletics encouraged my academics, which was my priority.”
The Drawbacks of Employment Status
Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA-12), Subcommittee Chair
“The mandate to reclassify student athletes as employees would have devastating consequences. The increased costs of unionization and administrative headaches would threaten the viability of many college athletic programs.”
“Employee status would harm athletes by restricting their freedoms, altering the significant benefits that they currently enjoy, undermining non-revenue generating sports, triggering unintended consequences like taxing scholarship, and taking the focus off education.”
Mr. Daniel L. Nash, Shareholder, Littler
“There’s no question that the movement to reclassify student-athletes as employees has a significant potential to interfere with education. We’ve seen that in cases that have been brought before the NLRB.”
“The young students who attend college and participate in extracurricular activities, including intercollegiate sports, are not remotely professional athletes. Treating them as such would not solve the issues facing college sports.”
Ms. Morgyn Wynne, Former Softball Student Athlete, Oklahoma State University
“I fear that shifting student athletes into an employment model would erode the very essence of what makes college athletics so transformative.”
“The reality is that many mid-major institutions and non-revenue sports simply do not have the financial resources to sustain an employee model.”
“If schools are forced to cut sports to cover costs [of employment], we are losing life-changing and transformational opportunities for thousands of aspiring NCAA athletes.”
“Employment status yields more disadvantages than advantages. It will shift the freedom for student athletes to explore academic interests, transfer capabilities, or just playing for the love of the game and replace that with legal contracts, performance pressures, and financial decisions.”
“The top concern from student athletes I've spoken to is the ongoing threat of cutting athletic opportunities for thousands of students to pay for the student athletes that generate the most revenue, which would ultimately create an uneven playing field.”
Ms. Jacqie McWilliams Parker, Commissioner, Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
“Unlike the large institutions that generate significant revenue through media rights, sponsorships, and ticket sales, HBCUs often struggle to cover the full cost of athletic programs. Transitioning student athletes to an employment model would exacerbate the strain and deficit on our already strapped athletic department budgets, likely leading to downgrading or outright eliminating certain sports or reducing the number of scholarships or other resources available to student athletes.”
Congress Must Act
Ms. Jacqie McWilliams Parker, Commissioner, Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
“I am here today to express my great desire for Congress to pass legislation that supports a future for college sports that allows athletic departments of all sizes and varieties, including HBCUs, to thrive.”
“It’s become clear there are limits to what we in college sports alone can address, and I’m greatly concerned that without congressional action, policies that negatively impact the student athletes’ experience and financial viability of our HBCUs are at risk of taking hold.”