What is the SCORE Act & Why is it Important? TSR Explains the Newest Piece of Proposed Legislation...

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Jul 23
3 min read

Updated: Jul 23

NOTE: Direct references to certain sections of the SCORE Act documentation can be found at the very top of the page/screen when clicking the hyperlinks.

Earlier this month, on July 10th, Congressmen Brett Guthrie and Gus M. Bilirakis proposed the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act.

In essence, the SCORE Act would "formalize" the recent NCAA vs the House settlement, creating a framework of protections for student-athletes while also putting greater control back in the hands of the NCAA.

The full documentation for the bill can be found by clicking here.

Among the core pieces of the bill, universities would be required to provide out-of-pocket healthcare costs for three years (for an injury that was sustained during collegiate competition) after a student-athlete leaves the school. [1] For any university that annually makes $50,000,000 or more in media rights revenue, student fees cannot be allocated to athletics. [2]

The proposed bill also ensures that student-athletes would not be restricted from retaining an agent and/or representation for their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) negotiations and agreements. [3] The student-athletes will have the "right to privacy" (within the confines of the bill) when it comes to their agreed-upon NIL deals. [4]

It is important to note that the proposed bill would effectively supersede all state-level protections. [5] It would also allow schools to deny their student-athletes from signing NIL deals that conflict with university sponsors. [6]

The NCAA and its member institutions would also be protected from antitrust lawsuits (broadly speaking) [7] while student-athletes would not be deemed as employees of schools, conferences and/or any intercollegiate athletic association. [8]

That latter part would be a crushing hit for proponents of collective bargaining agreements for student-athletes.

The SCORE Act does allow student-athletes to transfer once and be immediately eligible to compete. But beyond that, the NCAA could still establish, "parameters for the manner in which and the time period during which student athletes and prospective student athletes may be recruited for intercollegiate athletics." [9]

The SCORE Act also requires universities to sponsor at least 16 varsity sports teams by July 1st, 2027. That minimum only applies to universities who employ coaches with an annual base salary of $250,000 or more...which happens to be a heavy majority of Division One schools. [10]

The 16-team minimum is intended to protect non-revenue driving sports (i.e. track and field, cross country, wrestling, swimming, etc.) from being cut in favor of funding for football and basketball. The 16-team minimum is a clause that largely mirrors a rule already in place for the NCAA's FBS programs, per the Associated Press (via ESPN).

However, Steve Berkowitz of USA Today noted that, "over the past two decades, according to NCAA data, Division I schools have sponsored, on average, 19 teams."

While amendments to the bill are expected to be made, Ralph D. Russo and Chris Vannini of The Athletic have reported that the bill is now moving to the House of Representatives after clearing committee voting. Current sentiment suggests that the bill will advance through the House with relative ease before it moves to the Senate where it will likely see pushback.

A House vote isn't expected to happen until September.

Per Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports, if the proposed bill does make it to the Senate, then it would need 60 votes in order to move to the Executive Branch for President Donald Trump to sign into law.

That, however, is expected to be an uphill battle. Democrats have largely opposed the SCORE Act despite fellow Democrats Janelle Bynum and Shomari Figures joining Republicans to help introduce the bill earlier this month.