The NCAA is shortly to reduce if not its best man in Washington, at least a Good one.
Following a court-certified recount, state senator John McGuire defeated Republican Representative Bob Good (R-Va. ), who earlier introduced legislation that would forbid college athletes from becoming employees.
Fine, the head of the traditional Freedom Caucus, even served as a head of the House committee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions. The” Protecting Student Athletes ‘ Economic Freedom Act,” which prohibits college athletes from being deemed employees of their schools, their conferences, and the NCAA, was introduced in May by a former college wrestler and athletic administrator at Liberty University. By extension, the bill would reduce players from joining a union, as the Dartmouth men’s basketball team did earlier this year.

Good framed his bill ( H. R. 8534 ) as a counterweight to the disgraceful National Labor Relations Board, which, under President Joe Biden, certified the Dartmouth players ‘ union bid and responded to unfair labor practice complaints brought against USC football and basketball players.
In June, along a rigid party-line voting, H. R. 8534 was reported out of commission, becoming the first part of school sports-related legislation to expand that far in years.
” As a previous school wrestler, I firmly believe America’s long history of school sports should not be ruined by reclassifying student-athletes as staff, or moving to unionization”, Good said at the moment.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce reported on H. R. 8534 last month, and it was included in the coalition calendar of expenses that needed to be taken off the floor. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La. ) has focused on transgender athletes competing in NCAA women’s sports but has n’t taken it up or publicly addressed the issue of athlete employee status. Johnson and Riley Gaines, both of whom are school swimmers, moderated a panel discussion in late June.
With November’s presidential poll close at hand, it is hard to think H. R. 8534 going any further this period.
The final outcome of the Congressional debate over school performer settlement, which has become increasingly republican as the subject has moved beyond NIL rights to those of staff standing and wages, is unlikely to be affected by Good’s emergence from Congress next year.
While Good’s sport history possibly made him a more powerful advocate for the legislation, his sponsorship of H. R. 8534 largely owed to his role as subcommittee chair.
A spokesperson for the NCAA told Sportico when asked about Good’s decision’s significance that” the voice of student-athletes is the most crucial factor at play,” and that” student-athlete leaders from across the country in every division and sport have publicly called on Congress to stop college athletes from becoming employees of their respective institutions.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N. C. ), the chair of the House Education Committee, previously gave her full-throated support of the legislation, decrying” the NLRB’s rampant politicization of this issue”. Although a Foxx spokesperson declined to respond to a request for comment from Sportico, it would be reasonable to assume that a bill introducing similar legislation would be passed if Republicans won back control of the House in the following term.
At least one influential Senate Democrat, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, has expressed his discomfort with the idea of college athletes becoming employees, while saying he still wants to make sure they have similar protections. The other big issue is whether athletes would be able to obtain workers ‘ compensation coverage and whether schools would have to pay for it.
The NCAA hopes that Congress will pass legislation that would forbid athletes from becoming employees and give the association immunity from pending antitrust lawsuits as a result of its settlement in the House case. The NCAA has disclosed that it spent$ 460, 000 lobbying Congress during the first half of 2024 through its internal government relations team and outside firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.