HR4312-119

What This Bill Does

The SCORE Act creates a national framework for college athlete name, image, and likeness rights. It protects student athletes' ability to earn NIL compensation, obtain representation, and enter endorsement contracts while allowing institutions, conferences, and interstate intercollegiate athletic associations to set rules around eligibility, inducements, collectives, contract review, and enforcement. It amends sports-agent law to require written disclosures about whether an athlete agent is registered with the relevant athletic association and to require written consent before an unregistered agent helps a student athlete with an endorsement contract.

The bill imposes requirements on certain institutions, including comprehensive academic support, career counseling, life-skills programs, mental health, nutrition, NIL education, legal and tax access, financial literacy, transfer-process counseling, sexual-violence prevention education, medical care for sports injuries during enrollment and at least three years after graduation or separation, degree-completion support, scholarship protections, and maintenance of varsity sports opportunities. It gives athletic associations authority to regulate NIL agreements and creates liability protection under federal and State antitrust laws for rules adopted under the Act.

The bill also states that student athletes may not be considered employees of an institution, conference, or athletic association solely because they participate on a varsity team or in intercollegiate competition. It requires institutions to disclose student athletic fees and publish how those fees support athletic programs. It preempts State and local laws governing student-athlete compensation, payments, benefits, employment status, eligibility, transfer rules, and related NIL regulation.

Who Benefits and How

Student athletes benefit from federal protection for NIL compensation, endorsement contracts, agent access, scholarship protections, injury care, academic support, degree-completion support, and financial-literacy services. Registered sports agents benefit because their registration status becomes a compliance advantage when representing athletes. NCAA staff, conference compliance offices, and large athletic programs benefit from a uniform federal framework, antitrust liability protection, and preemption of conflicting State laws. Student fee payers benefit from clearer disclosures on how athletic fees are used. Institutions with robust compliance departments benefit from national rules that reduce the current State-by-State NIL patchwork.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Athlete agents who are not registered with an interstate athletic association must make written disclosures and obtain athlete or parent consent before assisting with endorsement contracts. Institutions covered by the support requirements must provide medical, mental-health, academic, career, legal, tax, financial-literacy, transfer, and degree-completion services. State legislatures and State regulators lose authority because conflicting NIL and athlete-compensation laws are preempted. Student athletes who want employment-status claims bear a legal burden because sports participation alone cannot make them employees. Institutions relying on athletic fees must publish more granular fee-use data and may face scrutiny from students and families.

Key Provisions

• Protects student athlete NIL compensation and representation while preserving amateur sports eligibility rules.
• Requires athlete-agent disclosure and written consent rules for endorsement-contract assistance.
• Requires covered institutions to provide academic, career, medical, mental-health, NIL, legal, tax, and degree-completion support.
• Provides antitrust liability protection for athletic association rules adopted under the Act.
• Provides that student athletes are not employees solely because they participate in varsity sports.
• Requires athletic-fee disclosures and public reporting on how fees support intercollegiate athletic programs.
• Preempts conflicting State and local laws governing athlete compensation, employment status, eligibility, and NIL regulation.