Webinar #12: 2022 Sack Symposium Proceedings: Session 2: Mandating A College Athletes Bill of Rights

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Webinar #12: 2022 Sack Symposium Proceedings: Session 2: Mandating A College Athletes Bill of Rights

How can Congress address the economic and educational exploitation of college athletes:  lack of adequate long- and short-term insurance and medical expense coverage for athletics injuries, low graduation rates for minority basketball and football players, lack of professional codes of conduct that protect athletes from abuse.  The panel examines Senator Cory Booker’s Framework for legislation mandating a College … Read more

Webinar #11: 2022 Sack Symposium Proceedings: Session 1: Giving College Athletes the Right to Unionize

Is it possible for Congress to give college athletes the right to unionize under the National Labor Relations Act in order to create a better balance of power between athletes and their institutions?  How important is it to retain the athlete’s “student” relationship to the university? If athletes were allowed to “unionize,” should athletes aggregate by … Read more

NILs and Title IX: Educational Institutions Must Fix their Promotion, Publicity, and Recruiting Inequities Critical to the NIL Monetization Success of College Female Athletes and Must Not Use Third Parties to Evade Their Title IX Obligations

Universities must not only focus on their own Title IX compliance obligations to provide male and female athletes with equal participation opportunities, athletics scholarship support, and equal treatment and benefits (including promotion, publicity, and recruiting), they must also require the third parties they establish, control, assist, or benefit from — conferences, national governing organizations, businesses, … Read more

College Athlete Bill of Rights is Needed, But Not New

U.S. Senators Booker and Blumenthal introduced S. 5062 College Athletes Bill of Rights as legislation to be considered by the 116th Congress in December of 2020. At the time, the bill was heralded as extraordinarily progressive legislation. We asked Allen Sack, a co-founder of The Drake Group, to write a first person narrative of the … Read more

The NCAA Is Playing The Ball In The Wrong Court

The Drake Group President-Elect Andrew Zimbalist and Drake Board of Directors member Julie Sommer wield a mighty pen with a timely critique of the NCAA’s efforts in the courts to protect its profits – revenues derived from the labor of talented, hard-working—and disproportionately Black—college athletes, especially those playing in the women’s and men’s Final Four … Read more

Eyes of Texas is a “Yes, Coach” Moment

The Drake Group urges reflection on the example of The University of Texas refusing the request of Black football players not to play “The Eyes of Texas” at the end of each football game, because of its offensive and degrading history and impact on these and other students.   READ FULL PRESS RELEASE

Federal NIL Legislation Chart

A side-by-side comparison of legislation filed in the 116th and 117th Congress to date on the issue of college athlete compensation for their independent monetization of the use of their names, images, and likenesses.

NCAA logo at midcourt

Failure to Act in the Interest of Athletes—The Drake Group Comments on the NCAA’s Decision to Delay Transfer and Name, Image, and Likeness Policy Updates

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – On January 8, 2021, the NCAA was scheduled to vote on two important and long-overdue policy amendments: loosening of NIL restrictions and transfer policies that require certain athletes to sit out a season after transferring schools. However, instead of voting on these proposals, the NCAA delayed amending them, citing a letter … Read more

United States Capitol Building

Drake Group Calls for Congress to Enact College Athlete Protections: A Legislative Proposal

On August 3, 2020, U.S. Senators Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Christopher Murphy, Kirsten Gillibrand, Ron Wyden, Mazie Hirono, and Kamala Harris issued a “College Athletes Bill of Rights” statement that sought to advance justice and opportunity for college athletes and promised future legislation to realize their position. On August 13, they were joined by Senators … Read more