Student-Athlete Rights: Compensation, Healthcare, and Financial Transparency
The SCORE Act aims to protect student-athletes' rights to profit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), while establishing new rules for their compensation, healthcare, and academic support. It mandates greater financial transparency for institutions and agents, and sets minimum care standards for athletes, potentially impacting their financial and health security.
Key points
Student-athletes can earn from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), and institutions cannot restrict this, with certain exceptions.
Transparency requirements are introduced for NIL agreements (over $600), including written form, party identification, term, compensation amount, and termination conditions.
Institutions with high coach salaries (over $250,000 annually) or high athletic revenues (over $20,000,000 annually) must provide comprehensive academic support, career counseling, medical care (including post-athletic career), and degree completion programs for former athletes.
Institutions with annual media rights revenues of $50 million or more will be prohibited from using student fees to support intercollegiate athletic programs, potentially reducing costs for other students.
Sports agents must disclose their registrations and obtain written consent from student-athletes (or guardians) for representation if not registered with the relevant athletic association.
Athletic associations can set compensation limits for student-athletes (a 'pool limit'), which must be at least 22% of the average annual college sports revenue of the top 70 highest-earning member institutions.
The Act grants student-athletes the right to a one-time transfer between institutions with immediate eligibility to compete, provided academic eligibility is met.
The Act explicitly states that student-athletes are not considered employees of institutions, conferences, or athletic associations based on their participation in sports.
Introduced
Citizen Poll