TO: Senator Maria Cantwell, Chairwoman
Senator Roger Wicker, Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation

Senator Patty Murray, Chairwoman
Senator Richard Burr, Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions

Representative Frank Pallone, Chairman
Representative Cathy McMorris, Ranking Member
U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Representative Robert C. Scott, Chairman
Representative Virginia Foxx, Ranking Member
U.S. House Committee on Education & Labor

RE: Signatories Urge Congress to Act on Collegiate Athletics Reform

The commercialization of intercollegiate athletics is damaging the academic integrity of this nation’s universities and causing educational, mental, and physical harm to many students who participate in these programs. Congress is the only institution with the power to fix these problems. We are past the time when we can rely on universities, led by their presidents and governing boards, or the governance organizations they have created, to do the work of reform that is necessary.

1. We’re the only country in the world where universities have given full scholarships to students who cannot even read a college textbook with no requirements for academic remediation as a condition for athletic eligibility, just so that the student can represent the university by playing football or basketball. Moreover, the graduation rates of Division I basketball and football players, a majority of whom are athletes of color, are significantly below athletes in all other sports and the general student body.

2. The NCAA has rendered itself ineffective by taking the position that the definition of what constitutes academic impropriety is the institution’s prerogative, levying no penalties for academic fraud. For example, for years the University of North Carolina had “fake classes” for athletes where the athletes received high grades for doing virtually no academic work. Even more troubling is that the university covered itself by letting nonathlete students be part of the same charade. However, the purpose of these fake classes was clear: for athletes to maintain their NCAA eligibility. University administrators in athletics and faculty affairs were aware and did nothing to stop the charade. The staff member who blew the whistle on the scandal, Mary Willingham, has made it clear that the university’s focus was to cover it up. In effect, the NCAA allowed UNC to define away its own rule violation.

3. Similarly, the NCAA has been ineffective when it comes to college athletics and sexual assaults. Universities resort to the coverup of athlete, coach, and staff sexual violence. The NCAA enforces no athlete or coach codes of conduct. The most recent example is in the NCAA’s ruling on Baylor University. The NCAA failed to sanction Baylor’s athletic department because it said the entire university had a “campus-wide culture of nonreporting” sexual violence-essentially using the same “it happens with nonathlete students” defense that North Carolina used. Likewise, team doctor Larry Nassar’s abuse of Michigan State (and Olympic) gymnasts was ignored by the NCAA as were allegations of sexual assaults by ten Louisiana State University football players.

4. Most university athletic programs —98.8 percent – operate financially in the red. Universities plug the budget holes with mandatory athletics fees they charge all students and/or general fund subsidies derived from student tuition despite the fact that students are leaving college with record debt. Both of these funding sources directly tap into $130 billion per year in Higher Education Act student loans and grants. NCAA member institutions have not confronted the need to enact rules that reduce athletic program costs.

5. One place many universities get an A+ is in racial exploitation. The exploitation of athletes of color is well documented. The Drake Group believes that the commercialization of intercollegiate athletic programs has not only challenged the academic integrity of higher education but also resulted in a predominantly white community of higher education administrators, athletic department administrators, coaches, and staff turning a blind eye to the racism underlying the economic, educational, and other forms of exploitation that harms college athletes. 

6. Long-standing gender inequities remain unaddressed. Ninety percent of universities and colleges are not meeting the standards Title IX sets for schools to demonstrate equality in sports opportunities. Women miss out on $1 billion in athletics scholarships annually according to annual Equity in Athletics Disclosure reports annually submitted to the Department of Education. NCAA institutions would need to provide women an additional 148,030 sports opportunities to match the same ratio of opportunities that are offered to men. And the NCAA, with no rule requiring Title IX compliance as a condition of membership or requiring gender equity in the conduct of its championships, hides behind the excuse that Title IX does not apply to national governance organizations.

7. In a year in which Congress has correctly focused on legislation related to the name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation of athletes because of differences in state laws, athlete health and protection issues have taken a back seat. Hundreds of concussion lawsuits are confronting the NCAA and its member schools with no long-term medical fund to deal with the inevitable future of dementia, Parkinson’s, ALS or CTE for thousands of athletes. No NCAA rule exists mandating that institutions pay for athletic injury insurance and medical expenses. Further, the controllable sport-specific factors that pose high risks to athlete mental health and wellness continue to be largely ignored by NCAA member institutions.

It is clear that neither the NCAA, its conferences or its member institutions can be trusted to solve these issues. According to a Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics survey, eighty percent of NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision college presidents believe they are unable to control their commercialized athletic programs. We believe the announced NCAA special Constitution Convention and committee charged with proposing a new governance model will follow in the footsteps of every past NCAA committee tasked with confronting a critical issue. This means protecting the status quo and preserving the power of the most commercialized athletic programs.

Congress has faced a similar issue before. In 1975, our Olympic nonschool sports system was broken when President Ford appointed a blue-ribbon Presidential Commission on Olympic Sports. The result of the Commission’s three-year study was comprehensive reform legislation: the 1978 Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act. The Amateur Athletic Union, a dysfunctional national governing body, was replaced by the United States Olympic Committee and strong guardrails were put in place to guarantee athletes’ right to compete, due process protections, and other rights, including 20 percent athlete representation on all committees as voting members. Now is the time for a similar massive reset of the course of intercollegiate athletics – a reset that cannot be accomplished by the dysfunctional governance organization that has consistently failed to recognize and address these multiple issues.

The signatories below respectfully urge the United States Congress to adopt legislation that will establish such a blue-ribbon Congressional Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics Reform.

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