To protect the name, image, and likeness rights of student athletes and to promote fair competition with respect to intercollegiate athletics, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Bilirakis (for himself, Ms. Bynum, Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Walberg, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The SCORE Act (Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act) creates a national framework for college athletes to earn money from their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights while maintaining their amateur status. It gives the NCAA and athletic conferences authority to regulate NIL deals, preempts state laws on the topic, and clarifies that student athletes are not employees of their schools.
Who Benefits and How
- Student athletes gain protected rights to pursue NIL deals and obtain sports agents, with guaranteed scholarships that cannot be revoked based on athletic performance or injury
- The NCAA and athletic conferences receive antitrust immunity for rules they create under this law, protecting them from lawsuits
- Major athletic programs get clarity on NIL rules and avoid a patchwork of different state laws
- Registered sports agents benefit from a system that requires unregistered agents to get extra consent from athletes
Who Bears the Burden and How
- Large universities (coaches earning over 250,000 dollars) must provide enhanced medical benefits, career counseling, degree completion programs, and maintain at least 16 varsity sports teams
- Schools with over 50 million dollars in media revenue are prohibited from using student fees to fund athletic programs starting in 2026
- Unregistered sports agents face new disclosure requirements and consent obligations
- State legislatures lose the ability to set their own NIL rules, with all existing state laws preempted
- Student athletes seeking employee status are explicitly denied employee classification, blocking union organizing and employee benefits
Key Provisions
- Protects student athletes right to enter NIL agreements and hire agents, with limited exceptions for code of conduct violations
- Sets a "pool limit" for total NIL compensation per institution at minimum 22 percent of top 70 schools average revenue
- Caps agent fees at 5 percent of NIL deal value
- Guarantees one free transfer between schools with immediate eligibility
- Requires athletic associations to include at least 20 percent current or former student athletes on decision-making bodies
- Mandates transparency on how student athletic fees are used
- Preserves Title IX gender equity requirements
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Establishes a comprehensive federal framework governing Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights for college student athletes, regulating how athletes can earn compensation while maintaining amateur status and setting requirements for institutions, agents, and athletic associations.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Establish uniform federal NIL framework to preempt state laws, protect athletic associations from antitrust liability, clarify that student athletes are not employees, and require transparency in athletic fees."
Likely Beneficiaries
- Student athletes (gain NIL rights and protections)
- NCAA and athletic conferences (receive antitrust immunity and rulemaking authority)
- Large athletic programs (maintain control over compensation through pool limits)
- Sports agents who register with associations
Likely Burden Bearers
- State legislators (laws preempted)
- Unregistered sports agents (face disclosure requirements and consent burdens)
- Institutions with over 50M media revenue (cannot use student fees for athletics)
- Small institutions (must maintain 16 varsity teams)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "conference"
- → Athletic conference with 2+ member institutions
- "institution"
- → Any institution of higher education as defined in HEA section 102
- "interstate_intercollegiate_athletic_association"
- → NCAA or similar national governing body
- "athlete_agent"
- → Individual who receives compensation to represent student athletes
- "institution"
- → Institution with coaching staff earning more than 250000 base salary
- "council"
- → Primary deliberative body composed of conference representatives
- "interstate_intercollegiate_athletic_association"
- → NCAA or similar national governing body
- "comptroller_general"
- → GAO to investigate compliance and Olympic Sports impact
- "federal_trade_commission"
- → FTC to study agent certification program
Note: Sections appear in two numbering schemes in the bill text (original and amended versions), with Section 9 appearing twice covering different topics.
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
An individual who receives compensation to represent a student athlete with respect to a NIL agreement or another compensation agreement related to varsity sports team participation.
Dollar amount based on college sports revenue (at least 22 percent of average annual revenue of top 70 earning institutions) serving as annual maximum for institution-provided NIL compensation.
Any form of payment or remuneration including NIL payments; excludes grants-in-aid, Pell Grants, health insurance, disability insurance, career counseling, hourly wages for non-athletic work.
An individual enrolled or agreed to enroll at an institution who participates on a varsity sports team.
Entities promoting varsity teams or creating NIL opportunities for athletes; individuals who are representatives of such entities; major donors (over 50000 lifetime) to athletic programs; individuals assisting in recruitment.
Revenue from admissions, media rights, athletic association distributions, bowl games, sponsorships, licensing, royalties, and any revenue used for pool limit calculations.
NIL compensation from associated entities unless for valid business purpose at market rates; compensation exceeding the pool limit.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology