▶ 0:19:57Chair Cruz: Good morning. For years athletes, fans and universities have watched the foundation of college sports crumble.
▶ 0:20:13Chair Cruz: Court decisions, settlements, state laws, conference realignment, transfer disputes, collectives, and uneven enforcement have pushed college sports into a system where the rules are uncertain, the incentives are distorted, and the people with the least power are too often left exposed. The protect college sports act as a landmark bipartisan bill that will preserve and strengthen our uniquely american system of college athletics.
▶ 0:20:44Chair Cruz: I want to thank ranking member cantwell, senator eric schmitt, senator chris coons, all of whom have spent months and years working to craft this legislation and build the bipartisan coalition behind it.
▶ 0:21:00Chair Cruz: I also want to thank members of this committee on both sides of the aisle who have contributed constructively to the process, including senator fischer for her work on the super league prohibition, similar concerns an amendment to raised by senators baldwin, wicker, and we have listened and worked hard.
▶ 0:21:21Chair Cruz: I also want to thank senators budd, capito, hickenlooper and rosen. We did create a framework that stabilizes college athletics in the and il and revenue-sharing era.
▶ 0:21:41Chair Cruz: We are considering a substitute to reflect that work and strengthens the bill, response to concerns raised by members and stakeholders and it preserves the bipartisan agreement that brought us here. The new version includes a more balanced approach to the super league issue rather than targeting anyone conference or treating the sec and big ten differently than everyone else. It focuses on broader principles we are trying to protect.
▶ 0:22:10Chair Cruz: Fair competition, broad opportunity, and a college sports system that remains open to more than a handful of the wealthiest programs. The new agreement reflects the critical importance of olympic sports. That's a major part of what the bill is about. College athletics is not only football and men's basketball.
▶ 0:22:32Chair Cruz: It is also swimming in wrestling and rowing, gymnastics, track and field, softball, and many other sports that create educational opportunities and help develop america's future olympians and future leaders. That's because the greatest risk facing college athletics today is not any single controversy, court decision, or headline. The greatest threat is in action.
▶ 0:22:59Chair Cruz: The laws enacted by past congresses are the reason why the current system is growing more unstable. If congress does not fix these laws and pass the bill, the cost of our failure will be measured not only in dollars, but wins and losses. The cost of the file will be measured in lost opportunities. Opportunities to earn a scholarship, to compete, to earn a college degree.
▶ 0:23:24Chair Cruz: Doing nothing means hundreds of thousands of students that right now have the chance to go to college see that opportunity go away. I know that some say that college athletics is so popular, congress should not get involved. Hi television ratings and rabid fan bases do not prove the system is healthy. It just proves the product is worth saving. Millions of americans care deeply about college sports.
▶ 0:23:56Chair Cruz: They care about the athletes, the schools, the rivalries, the traditions that connect families and towns and campuses and states. That is precisely why congress cannot simply hope the system will correct itself. Any serious solution must begin with reality. The nil era is here and reality.
▶ 0:24:22Chair Cruz: The protect college sports act embraces this new environment while establishing the rules necessary to bring order to the chaos. Student athletes should be able to earn money from their name, image, and likeness. This bill protects that. A system that protects athletes also need to rules. Real nil is not the same thing as a disguised recruiting payment or a booster and a back alley with a bag of cash. Revenue-sharing is not the same thing as unlimited captivation.
▶ 0:24:52Chair Cruz: Athlete mobility is not the same thing as permanent roster free agency. Legal certainty does not mean a blank check. The protect college sports act draws these lines. It protects legitimate nil activity while the state wishing real endorsement deals from payments used to buy rosters. It protects scholarships, strengthens medical coverage for athletes, restores structure, and transfers and eligibility and protects athletes from inducements and tampering.
▶ 0:25:22Chair Cruz: Athletes get real certainty, medical protections, academic scholarship protections. Schools get enforceable rules of stability. Fans get stronger protections for rivalries, access to game and fair competition. Let me give an analogy be let me give an analogy about where we are. On the football field, punting on the fourth down can also be the prudent choice. But there are moments in the game when the stakes, the field position, the time left on the clock demands you go for it.
▶ 0:25:54Chair Cruz: We have studied the challenges in seeing the consequences of standing still. The future of college athletics is now in congress's hands. We can sit and watch the system continue to unravel or we can step onto the field and lead. I believe this moment calls for leadership. No more punting. We are in fourth down territory. It is time to go for it.
▶ 0:26:18Chair Cruz: I would note there's a total of 24 conferences across the country that are enthusiastically supporting this bill. The nfl is supporting the bill. The nba is supporting the bill. Major league baseball is supporting the bill. The nba players association, the nfl players association support the bill. Call cawe have over 100 coaches enthusiastically supporting this bill.
▶ 0:26:48Chair Cruz: I strongly urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the protect college sports act. I will note we have received 38 additional letters of support since our hearing two weeks ago. We now have vocal support from 23 conferences, representing 249 schools. I recognize ranking member cantwell.
▶ 0:27:12Sen. Cantwell: Thank you, Mr. chairman, and thank you for this bipartisan accomplishment. A lot of people in washington -- my washington -- and around the country think bipartisanship is dead. But on behalf of 500,000 athletes who are seeing their future opportunities dimmed, we decided to work together to try to address this problem.
▶ 0:27:40Sen. Cantwell: I want to thank our colleague senator coons in the back the audience for his participation in helping us get this over the goal line. Before I go on, I want to thank our staffs for both the majority and minority committee, including shannon smith who had to retire a week ago but the staff has worked on this issue tirelessly for a long time. We could not be here today without them.
▶ 0:28:10Sen. Cantwell: As you said, this is landmark legislation. It is landmark legislation because it is the first time we will be creating a federal right for student athletes and name, image, and likeness that does preempt state laws that are much weaker and negate many of the opportunities of athletes if you are in conflict with the of the university -- with the university.
▶ 0:28:43Sen. Cantwell: It's landmark legislation because it codifies 10 years of scholarship opportunities for athletes so that you can complete your college education. We are not saying it takes you 10 years. We are simply saying you have your five years of scholarship and somehow you do go make it to a pro league and want to come back, we give you additional time to complete that college education.
▶ 0:29:07Sen. Cantwell: 10 years of making sure your health and your health care is covered. I think this is landmark because not only are you covering the time you are playing as an athlete, but in case you are injured we are also helping you after you graduate from college to take care of those issues.
▶ 0:29:31Sen. Cantwell: I want to thank the chairman again for including a major piece of the legislation -- historic legislation in a medical trust fund to help institutions like hbcu's who can't afford to meet the obligations or the obligations of cte to include that as a first time part of federal legislation. Historic.
▶ 0:29:55Sen. Cantwell: I want to thank the mcnair family who first brought these issues to us when their son died playing football in maryland in the heat of the day and basically did not receive enough proper training. He educated us on the standards that needed to be in our legislation on health and safety . This is the most landmark piece of legislation protecting student athletes with the type of preparation they need to compete in college sports.
▶ 0:30:26Sen. Cantwell: I want to thank the chairman for including an improvement offered by senator kim to make sure that money is an enhanced -- is enhanced in the future if it's not meeting the needs of what is required.
▶ 0:30:41Sen. Cantwell: The legislation is also landmark in that it definitely makes sure that predatory contracting done by agents or universities or conferences or shill organizations don't get students stuck in binding arbitration. No way out because he signed a document that basically you didn't even understand and basically took away your legal rights. This is landmark in the protections that it gives student athletes.
▶ 0:31:13Sen. Cantwell: It is also landmark in cutting down on agents' activities because we have seen the worst of activities taking advantage of high school students, asking them to sign. Somebody comes up to you at a gym after you have a miraculous night and they promise you and nba career if you will just allow them to represent you.
▶ 0:31:32Sen. Cantwell: The next thing you know if you have signed a piece of paper that probably signed away property, signed away earnings, signed away things that even if you never make it into college or the pros, all of a sudden you are financially obligated to this person who took advantage of you.
▶ 0:31:50Sen. Cantwell: Making agents register, making them liable for deceitful information, making them accountable to a federal law is a first-time federal law that will help us in cracking down on these bad actors. I want to emphasize a couple of points. I want to thank senator hickenlooper for his unbelievable leadership in thinking about women and olympic sports.
▶ 0:32:19Sen. Cantwell: I know he comes from a state where they care so much about women in the limbic sports. -- in olympic sports. The majority worked with senator hickenlooper and the U.S. opc to not only protect our bill as it does for the sports broadcasting act and future revenue going to women in olympic sports.
▶ 0:32:43Sen. Cantwell: Landmark provisions authored by senator hickenlooper and negotiated with the majority basically says that those women in olympic sports should be protected for the next nine years from the wealthiest divisions and from those who are more struggling for the next four years. Why is that so important? It's important because we are already seeing cuts to thousands of women in the limbic sports. -- olympic sports.
▶ 0:33:13Sen. Cantwell: We need them to be protected throughout this. There was polling that said that 87% of the public think the number one priority here is not football, believe it or not, the number one thing the public cares about, 87% of the public come please protect women and olympic sports. That is what the bill does. I want to thank senator hickenlooper for that.
▶ 0:33:44Sen. Cantwell: There has been much made and discussed about student athletes supporting the bill. I want to entered into the record a letter a student -- enter into the record a letter from a student advocacy group that represents 500,000 students in division I, division ii and division iii committees who say the protections for student athletes at all divisions including transfer rights, changes in college sports, graduation, and sexual
▶ 0:34:15Sen. Cantwell: Harassment, sexual assault and harassment, that this is great transparency on registration and fees an important antitrust protections. I want to enter that into the record. There has been much made of late that somehow that somehoow the congressional black caucus does not support us moving forward. . They have not said that other organizations that want to slow this issue down.
▶ 0:34:50Sen. Cantwell: I joined them in that effort. I would like to enter into the record a letter from craig robinson, the brother of michelle obama, brother-in-law to the president of the united states who asks us to support this legislation because, as he says, he was a coach and student athlete himself. He supports this legislation.
▶ 0:35:13Sen. Cantwell: I doubt the president's brother-in-law would be joining us in this effort if he thought anything in this act was untoward athletes or not a victory and moving forward the debate on how important it is to represent athletes' rights. Some people think doing nothing can lead to collective bargaining.
▶ 0:35:38Sen. Cantwell: While I'm supportive of a concept -- I witnessed out that elective bargaining from the pack 12 was something, but the pack 12 is probably a state bottom-up approach that might work. Having a bottom down approach here in the united states senate where somehow somebody thinks we are going to pass a mandate by the federal government to say that state employees could somehow be mandated by the federal government to collectively bargain is not something that is going to happen anytime soon.
▶ 0:36:08Sen. Cantwell: Our legislation does say let's create a commission with students, with hbcu's, the interested parties and discuss what is the best foot forward for collective bargaining or other options I can continue does solve some of our problems. Mr. chairman, there some on our side who would would have loved to deal with the bill. Clearly it is complex. There are some that would hope that we would continue to make further changes. I commit to them we are going to do that.
▶ 0:36:38Sen. Cantwell: But we need order and stability now. The craziness that is happening in this marketplace with cutting of thousands of roster slots, the taxing students fees for education to pay for football, the arms race that is basically taking money away from research and development.
▶ 0:37:03Sen. Cantwell: Our task here is to win the race in innovation against the chinese. A 1.4 billion population. We have 500 million in our country. How are we going to do that? We have a better education system.
▶ 0:37:22Sen. Cantwell: It's all over the country, but not if we continue to elect the demise of college sports not only take away athletes' rights, revenue, but also diminish our r&d capabilities, particularly at land-grant institutions. I know we may be concessions last night to the big ten to make sure they felt this was a bill that help protect their interests for the future.
▶ 0:37:50Sen. Cantwell: I am sure we are going to have many more conversations with them down the road. But as my college senator wicker knows -- colleague senator wicker knows, we have worked on this for a long time, since his time as chairman of the committee. I asked my colleagues to support this legislation today, because it does have a few other little tools in here.
▶ 0:38:13Sen. Cantwell: It literally says you cannot block content in your region from being on over the air broadcasting. I am sick and tired of these people putting broadcast content of us seeing our favorite football team, all of a sudden you can't watch it because it is behind a pay wall. That is not what the american consumer wants or deserves and that protection in this legislation is landmark.
▶ 0:38:42Sen. Cantwell: I also think that the tool in this legislation to increase streaming media rights for nonrevenue sports, women's volleyball, women's basketball, or rowing that is historic at the university of washington allows those sports to go out and capitalize on revenue opportunities to grow their sport, their attention, and their future. Mr. chairman, this is landmark.
▶ 0:39:11Sen. Cantwell: I appreciate us working together. I appreciate our colleagues for moving the bill out of committee. It is not the last that we are going to see to changes of this. I encourage more dialogue with all of our colleagues and I will certainly be communicating with the congressional black caucus on these issues. I certainly will be communicating with the rest of our senate colleagues as well. Mr. chairman, I have said it many times.
▶ 0:39:39Sen. Cantwell: You and I disagree on about 25 things and that is justin's committee. But we did not allow that disagreement to the work progress on 8 -- to thwart progress on a critical subject. Anybody that thinks there another opportunity forward is going to be mistaken. I think we have seen from the ncaa and the conferences that they cannot figure out how to get this structure right.
▶ 0:40:12Sen. Cantwell: They need our help. They have asked for it. Today we are giving it. Thank you.
▶ 0:40:16Chair Cruz: Thank you. I want to sincerely thank ranking member cantwell. You have been a partner in this project. This has been a very difficult project. You and I sat in conference rooms for six to eight hours a day, day after day painstakingly negotiating each and every provision of the bill. There were moments when I am sure he wanted to throw me out a window and you restrained.
▶ 0:40:45Chair Cruz: At times our staff were ready to throttle each other. By the way, we had a secret that I would bring out. Cuban coffee. It's a wonderful tool of bribery that calm everyone down, sugar and caffeine somehow got us back to work. I have appreciated the hard work and time and energy you put into this bill. We would not be here without that. I know there are a number of members who want to make additional comments.
▶ 0:41:16Chair Cruz: We have a quorum present right now. I will ask if we can move to the votes first and then I will stay as long as anyone wants to make comments after the votes. But with that, I will recognize ranking member cantwell for an additional motion.
▶ 0:41:43Sen. Cantwell: I move that s. 4668, the protect college sports act amended by the substitute is modified. Duckworth six as modified. Kim one. Rosen one.
▶ 0:42:14Sen. Cantwell: Rosen two. She he one, sullivan one.
▶ 0:42:22Chair Cruz: Is there a second? Is there any discussion? Are there any limits people like to introduce? Senator baldwin.
▶ 0:42:39Sen. Baldwin: Mr. chairman, I have one a minute I would like to offer for a vote. I have an additional one I would like to offer for discussion so you know my plan of action here. For the vote I would like to bring up baldwin number three. I am happy to make a brief statement while it is being distributed.
▶ 0:43:08Sen. Baldwin: The primary goal of private equity firms is to squeeze every penny out of an acquired asset. Private equity does not really care about an athletes academic opportunities. Private equity does not care about team morale for the quality of the coaching staff. Privately at -- private equity doesn't care about growing women's and olympic sports. Private equity does not care about the student or fan experience.
▶ 0:43:38Sen. Baldwin: The only care -- they only care about how much money they can make. This should not be the objective of universities or their athletic departments. This amendment would simply prohibit schools from working with private equity to sell or license their media rights or in the operation of their athletic programs. I encourage my colleagues to support this amendment.
▶ 0:44:08Sen. Baldwin: I asked for a roll call vote on it.
▶ 0:44:09Chair Cruz: Thank you, senator baldwin. I appreciate the sentiment behind this amendment. I am going to vote no on it. I encourage members to vote no on it. There is nothing in the bill that creates any -- that speaks to private equity. At the end of the day colleges are all facing challenges, revenue challenges, trying to support athletes and supports women sports in support olympic sports.
▶ 0:44:39Chair Cruz: They are looking at a range of possibilities. I don't believe we should be foreclosing any of those possibilities. I think the issue merits further discussion over time. I don't think we should be enacting a blanket prohibition. Any further discussion? The clerk will call the role.
▶ 0:45:01Chair Cruz: >> [calling roll] no's
▶ 0:46:36Chair Cruz: Are 20, yeses are 8.
▶ 0:46:40Chair Cruz: The amendment is not agreed to. Senator schmitt.
▶ 0:46:50Sen. Schmitt: Let me give a brief explanation of what they are. I'm confident working with this as we have that we will find a resolution on this. We have the two buckets, the governance fees and potentially opening up new revenue opportunities, the second bucket. Both amendments address that issue. The idea is the conferences could come together if they choose to pool their media rights.
▶ 0:47:15Sen. Schmitt: You go from a $4 billion proposition to a whatever the number is, certainly higher than $4 billion to support women sports and olympic sports. Schmidt three lowers the threshold from 75% to 70% of those member institutions effectively allowing her the conferences like the acc, the big 12, the mountain west to be able to pool. If the threshold to 75%, there are a couple of conferences that can block the pooling altogether.
▶ 0:47:45Sen. Schmitt: While I don't support forcing any conference into a pooling scenario, I want to provide as many options as possible for conferences to pool if they choose. That is what this would do. I think we are comfortable moving forward with the conversations we have had. The second piece deals with the board composition if you go do it.
▶ 0:48:07Sen. Schmitt: If we really want to -- the reality is this is really going to work, you want to have the big tent and the sec as part of that -- big ten. We don't want to force them to do it. I don't think there should be any effort, legal or otherwise, to force them to do it. We have to have an incentive structure in place that would provide the maximum opportunity for them to want to join. The board composition of whatever this looks like really matters.
▶ 0:48:41Sen. Schmitt: Schmitt five says renegotiate debt so the big ten and the sec feel comfortable. Those conferences may choose -- we don't want to do it. That's fine. We want to ride the maximum runway for the conference is to be able to. Having said that, I withdraw those amendments and look forward to working with the chair and my two friends, senator cruz and senator cantwell.
▶ 0:49:10Chair Cruz: Thank you, senator schmitt. Senator cantwell.
▶ 0:49:16Sen. Cantwell: I want to thank my friend from his array for working on this. I do want to work with him in the future. Getting this right so that schools and institutions across the country feel fairly represented in what is a distribution of revenue and a where we can move forward on maximizing more revenue. Why do we want to do that?
▶ 0:49:42Sen. Cantwell: The analysis is there that there is revenue that could be helpful to create stability and I like the marriage between college sports and local broadcasting. I want to see more local broadcast stations survive. Being able to get this right is critical. I look forward to working with my colleague.
▶ 0:50:02Chair Cruz: Thank you. Senator baldwin, I apologize. You had two amendments.
▶ 0:50:10Sen. Baldwin: I intend to offer and then withdraw baldwin two, which relates to how fans are able to watch their favorite teams play. I suspect everyone in the room has heard about frustrations from their constituents in trying to watch their favorite professional sports teams.
▶ 0:50:39Sen. Baldwin: They are met with blackouts and pay walls. We did a quick calculation in wisconsin. If you want to be a super fan and watch every packers game, every brewers game, every c every brewers game, every bucks game, you would pay $1500 a year and still be faced with blackouts.
▶ 0:51:04Sen. Baldwin: Part of this has to do with the definition of what is a local fan. What dma is involved. For the packers in wisconsin, that is just green bay and milwaukee and not the rest of the state that have to pay to access otherwise. I have a build to handle that but I'm not bringing that bill up today.
▶ 0:51:35Sen. Baldwin: It is called for the fans act, so take a look. What I am breaking up is the definition of local, because we should not allow for these frustrations to be expanded to college sports.
▶ 0:51:50Sen. Baldwin: This amendment which ensures all fans across the state are able to watch their favorite college teams play without having to deal with the frustration of blackouts and pay walls and the maze of different description services that are so pervasive in professional sports. Limiting free access to one or possibly two media markets works generally for states west of the rockies.
▶ 0:52:21Sen. Baldwin: To those of us east of the rockies, we know our media markets are a jumbled mess that cover far fewer square miles and they often cross state lines. This amendment injures equal access by expanding the definition of local to include the whole state and gives the sec the ability to add to that definition of local.
▶ 0:52:49Sen. Baldwin: This would ensure all was consonants can watch the badgers play without being gouged by pay walls and subscriptions. It would have similar benefits in other states. I want to submit a map of the market available currently. I will not asked for a vote on this amendment, but I think it's a very serious issue. We are advocates for local broadcasting and advocates for the fans of these teams.
▶ 0:53:17Chair Cruz: Thank you, senator baldwin.
▶ 0:53:22Sen. Blackburn: I know that many of us worked for years trying to deal with the ncaa and address some of the issues that have arisen. They have not been able to address this issue. I have got two amendments that we are not going to vote on today and I'm not going to call them up for a vote. They are issues that need to be addressed. This is an issue that is languished.
▶ 0:53:51Sen. Blackburn: What are we going to do about college sports? The ineptness of the ncaa has brought us to this point. Let's get some things right. Blackburn one would expand the broadcast provisions from the ncaa men's and women's basketball tournament to any postseason activity.
▶ 0:54:19Sen. Blackburn: We need to think in a more wholesome way about this and look at any activity for men and women sports rather than getting to some point in the future and saying, why did we carve out basketball and not cover baseball, not cover women's softball, not cover tennis?
▶ 0:54:45Sen. Blackburn: I don't know if anybody watched the women's college softball tournament this year. It was great. I think we need to think a little more fully about those rights. The second one I was offering deals with the sovereign immunity clause of the colleges.
▶ 0:55:07Sen. Blackburn: In this bill that is before us, protecting college sports, what we are asking the colleges to do is to take on new responsibilities. The way the bill is written, what it does not do is protect both the state and federal sovereign immunity rights. Mr.
▶ 0:55:35Sen. Blackburn: Chairman, I think this is something we should revisit before we take the bill to the floor. We need to make certain we are protected and clarify we are protecting both the state and federal sovereign immunity rights.
▶ 0:55:54Chair Cruz: Thank you. Senator klobuchar.
▶ 0:56:00Sen. Klobuchar: I wanted to comment on senator baldwin's discussion about the markets and how they are different state-by-state. I so appreciate the work you you have done on the bill and the reforms that are significant steps in the right direction. Especially the heightened health and safety standards to protect athletes and focus on women's athletes -- women athletes.
▶ 0:56:25Sen. Klobuchar: What senator baldwin was talking about might be unique to certain states and hoping the two of you coming from states that are not in these markets would consider working with us in the future. In minnesota, we have five markets. The fans in the markets might be as much a fan of our college sports teams as one in the immediate market and they are not covered by this.
▶ 0:56:53Sen. Klobuchar: What worries me for the local broadcasters here is they are already hanging on against these paid streamers, monopolies, and the fans get hurt because public content is behind a pay wall. What I hope you will do is work with us on this issue. Some other issues are specific to the big ten about a legal sediment and things that are separate from the broadcasting. I hope you will work with us on this.
▶ 0:57:24Sen. Klobuchar: What tammy called the east of the rockies issue. About how we can make sure that fans in our states are not actually hurt by this because they cannot access what is now rebroadcast and are forced to go behind an expensive pay wall. Thank you.
▶ 0:57:43Chair Cruz: Senator cantwell with a brief comment.
▶ 0:57:46Sen. Cantwell: I wanted to say a couple of housekeeping things. Senator markey wants to be a yes on baldwin two.
▶ 0:57:55Chair Cruz: It will be recorded as a yes. Baldwin three. He will be recorded as a yes on baldwin three.
▶ 0:58:07Sen. Cantwell: I wanted to continue to work on baldwin three. I think there are some current university contracts that might be unwound if we passed that language, but clearly support her larger efforts and certainly want to work on the media issue with her. We have had success in this committee. Senator klobuchar brought up this issue that we do want less content behind the pay wall and more content for broadcasting.
▶ 0:58:40Sen. Cantwell: The language in the bill gives us the ability to do that by saying if you're going to give an antitrust exemption, we are only giving that exemption if the public gets something in return. What are we getting from the sports broadcasting act of 1960 which gave this original exemption is the right to basically say if the content has to be on broadcast. That is critically important to the bill. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on all that. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:59:11Chair Cruz: If there is no further discussion, the question is on senator cantwell's motion. The clerk will call the role. >> [calling roll]
▶ 1:00:56Chair Cruz: The yeses are 18, no's are nine.
▶ 1:01:02Chair Cruz: Emotion is agreed to. It will be -- the motion is agreed to and will be reported to the floor. I recognize ranking member cantwell for an additional motion.
▶ 1:01:20Sen. Cantwell: Mr. chairman, I move that pn6224, pm845, pn848, pn876 , pn909, pn1077, coast guard promotions be favorably reported.
▶ 1:01:49Chair Cruz: All those in favor say aye. The motion is agreed to and the nominations are favorably reported. I as for unanimous consent that staff are authorized to make technical and conforming changes. Without objections. I was told a number of members wish to speak. The first on the list is senator klobuchar. >> may I be added to the list to Mr. chairman?
▶ 1:02:17Sen. Klobuchar: We are hopeful we can work with you to get to a place of my vote because the work you are doing is so important. The few weeks here without being able to get the midwest input we think we need would be helpful and I hope we get to a yes. Thanks.
▶ 1:02:36Chair Cruz: Sender moran. -- senator moran.
▶ 1:02:44Sen. Graham: , just one moment. -- Sen. moran: just a moment.
▶ 1:02:52Chair Cruz: The total was 19-9. I want to clarify that for the record.
▶ 1:03:00Sen. Moran: I'm not unfamiliar with this topic. I use this moment to congratulate and commend you for reaching a conclusion that is broadly supported. A lot of issues arise with this topic. You have dealt with many of them, including some of the most difficult. As we heard from our colleagues there are other interests that yet need to be considered. I congratulate you on your success.
▶ 1:03:29Sen. Moran: I know how difficult it was and can be. I want to encourage you to continue to work with the members of this committee. I am pleased with the product you have been able to achieve in all these efforts and all the opportunities I have had to engage in this issue. The goal has been to improve the lot in life for circumstances of students and student athletes, create opportunities for them and create guidelines for the universities they attend.
▶ 1:04:01Sen. Moran: Universities and colleges. To take care of women and the sports that are considered not the major sports at universities. To make sure we are using our college athletes as an opportunity to increase the number of individuals who are capable and willing to compete for the united states olympic team.
▶ 1:04:21Sen. Moran: The consequences that occur on college campuses that involve student athletes, that experience and it's important resounds across the country way beyond the stadium we are in or the basketball court we are sitting on in the tennis match we are watching in our home communities and home universities and colleges.
▶ 1:04:41Sen. Moran: I've had an interest in trying to make sure historically black and community colleges have the opportunity to have student athletes achieve great success in those settings. Thank you for knowing the importance of this issue and working so hard and diligently to reach conclusions. It is a great monumental achievement, particularly in a achievement, particularly in today's environment.
▶ 1:05:13Sen. Moran: I want to underscore what I said in the hearing. I made remarks expressing my concern about broadcast provisions in the bill. I heard a number of colleagues speak to that. Senator cantwell said something she and I have worked on trying to make sure our hometown broadcasters have a future. The build -- what I spoke about in this bill was particularly considering the applications of streaming services.
▶ 1:05:41Sen. Moran: I am pleased to see the bill in the bill that we are relying on the same definition. That is sponsored tele-casting as the original -- as it is in the original 1961 sports broadcasting act. Sponsored telecasting was interpreted as free, over the air television. Notably not accounting for or including streaming services. I believe we should promote sports on broadcast.
▶ 1:06:12Sen. Moran: That is the best way to make certain all fans of access to watch their favorite teams. I want the record of this markup, this executive committee meeting, to reflect this narrow and deliberate definition that you are utilizing. I look forward to continuing the conversation on this topic. I'm glad to see that common sense guard and protections for olympic sports.
▶ 1:06:38Sen. Moran: I supported the sysop -- substitute amendment that made me supportive of the entire bill based upon changes. I commend you on your success.
▶ 1:06:49Chair Cruz: Thank you. Sorry. Senator cantwell.
▶ 1:06:55Sen. Cantwell: I want to thank senator moran for his leadership. He's been consistent for many years and I appreciate it. 19-9 sounds like a seahawks football score. I think today we are proving that we are resilient in keeping this product moving. I know that my colleagues have concerns about the sec and big ten.
▶ 1:07:23Sen. Cantwell: What we did today sa we are not going to let the most powerful richest conferences dictate to the rest of america what is going to happen to 500,000 athletes. We are going to make sure the voices of people are heard everywhere. I want to thank my colleagues who are trying to help us move this forward in the debate. I want to thank senator rosen for her contributions on this. She has been -- she is dealing with boxing issues but she's been helpful and we appreciate her.
▶ 1:07:53Sen. Cantwell: >> cannot be recognized for a few seconds longer? I intended to express my gratitude to the people in kansas but there's a lot of people across the country who talked with us, visited us and encouraged us on this issue. I want to highlight the ongoing conversations over a long period of years of jean taylor, the athletic director at kansas state university.
▶ 1:08:18Sen. Cantwell: Travis goff at the university of kansas and kevin saul at wichita state university. Right -- and the big 12 commissioner who has been so be engaged in dealing with us in working with me to make sure it is more than satisfactory.
▶ 1:08:41Sen. Rosen: Thank you, chairman cruz and ranking member cantwell for working with her teams. Not our sports teams but our actual physical teams here in washington and the state. I really appreciate it. I support the bill because it moved in the right direction. Your tremendous efforts have made this such a stronger bill. I look forward to working on what we do in the future.
▶ 1:09:10Sen. Rosen: The modified ensures that the non-power schools have a seat at the table on the rules of the road or being decided at the ncaa and the future of college sports. Much of the debate on this topic over the past few weeks and months has been about the power four.
▶ 1:09:38Sen. Rosen: My colleagues must work to ensure that anything we pass works for all schools, including the g6 schools that represent a significant percentage of american america's athletes, including olympians. Opportunities for our youth to go to school, get an education, and give back to the community. I am pleased to see the bill takes meaningful steps to stop the arms race we have seen in college athletics in the past few years.
▶ 1:10:03Sen. Rosen: Without this legislation midsize schools like those in nevada and throughout the mountain west would remain at a competitive disadvantage with the riches schools in the country. As they had already had to do, they would need to continue to make tough choices about cuts to nonrevenue sports, including olympic sports and many women's teams. I was glad to see provisions added to this bill to prevent public funds from being used for million-dollar coaching contracts.
▶ 1:10:32Sen. Rosen: That there are protections for survivors of sexual assault and critical fixes to the transfer portal. I will admit the bill is not perfect. There are several issues I would like to see addressed in the final legislation, or cs address in the future. We have seen nil deal after deal be rejected by the commission on college sports, because the media market is smaller than others.
▶ 1:10:59Sen. Rosen: It is unfair and makes it impossible for schools in smaller media markets to compete with schools that happen to be located in a bigger media market. It is something we must fix here in the committee. We can't let the enemy be perfect -- I look forward to progress on critical protections for college athletics at midsize schools and I really praise the chairman and ranking member for their collaboration and cooperation and openness to
▶ 1:11:30Sen. Rosen: Listening to all of us. I yield.
▶ 1:11:32Chair Cruz: Senator capito. We lead the way for equal pay for equal play for team usa for woman sports. We have seen that flourish in the value of our women sports at that level cannot be understated.
▶ 1:12:01Chair Cruz: Actually back in the day I was a division I athlete myself and I am the mother of a division I athlete. Women's sports are extremely important to me. I appreciate both of you accepting my capito one amendment to help preserve the status of nonrevenue generating sports, particularly women and athletic sports.
▶ 1:12:27Chair Cruz: I want to thank universities and colleges in west virginia, the ad's, conference leaders that have come to our offices. It is important for us to realize what this does for a small state such as mine where our major college or university teams are our only teams. He really is the lifeblood. I will point out west virginia was just in the college world series and got all the way to the top four.
▶ 1:12:57Chair Cruz: The entire state was electric. It has more than just an impact across our state and across the nation. You all realize this and have worked really hard to reach a compromise. Thank you so much. Let's keep pushing.
▶ 1:13:11Chair Cruz: Thank you for your hard work and leadership on this issue as well. I appreciate working with you. If there are no further comments, that concludes our executive session for today. The committee is adjourned. What? I already did that. I got unanimous consent. You can change whatever you want, brad.