{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-college-sports-are-bigger-in-texas-heres-how-we-keep-them-that-way", "ICYMI: College sports are bigger in Texas. Here\u2019s how we keep them that way", "2023-09-06", "2023", "2023-09", "Republican", "Senate", "TX", "Ted Cruz", "C001098", "www.cruz.senate.gov", "cruz", "https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "AUSTIN, Texas \u2013 U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wrote an op-ed that appeared in Friday\u2019s edition of the Austin American-Statesman. The article can be read here or below.\n\n\u201cThis weekend, Texas football teams will begin their seasons with legitimate playoff aspirations. That\u2019s because college sports, like everything else, are bigger in Texas.\n\n\u201cTens of thousands of faithful fans from all walks of life will gather to watch these games, united in their love of their team. And no one will know (or care) about the religion, background, or politics of the fan sitting next to them.\n\n\u201cCollege sports are a great cultural unifier, but they are in peril\u2014not just for fans\u2014but for thousands of student-athletes whose games won\u2019t air on national television. In 2021, the Supreme Court issued a ruling against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) that ultimately resulted in student-athletes having the ability to profit from their own name, image, and likeness (NIL). Now, additional litigation and draft state laws are hampering the ability of the NCAA to enforce even modest rules, set recruiting standards, promote fair competition, or crack down on bad actors looking to take advantage of student-athletes. Many school administrators agree that these developments, coupled with the evolution of athlete compensation, will lead to the premature end of big-time college football and basketball at dozens of schools. More troubling, however, could be the fallout at all levels of colleges and universities: the elimination of non-revenue sports.\n\n\u201cIf we are to preserve college athletics as we know it, congressional action will be necessary. To understand what lawmakers should \u2014 and should not do \u2014 the response of Washington to football\u2019s first crisis is instructive.\n\n\u201cAfter a series of deaths from football-related injuries threatened the sport\u2019s future, President Theodore Roosevelt brought university leaders to the White House to encourage them to create rules that all parties could agree to rather than rely on the government. This became the early stages of the NCAA, an athletic system built on self-governance free from government intervention.\n\n\u201cWhile the NCAA is far from perfect and not without controversy, this self-governance model is strongly preferrable to federal control of sports. Like many fans, I shudder at the idea of a congressional oversight hearing on what is \u2018roughing the passer,\u2019 a Justice Department probe into a particular coach\u2019s methods, or federally mandated water and safety breaks.\n\n\u201cAfter speaking with athletes, stakeholders from numerous Texas schools, collegiate sports associations, and others, I developed draft legislation that preserves the self-governance model and provides limited federal involvement to fully address outstanding legal issues that undermine fair competition.\n\n\u201cFirst, my model codifies NIL rights for college athletes. As a matter of first principle, a man or woman is entitled to profit from their own labor and success. Many Texas athletes (and schools) are now benefiting from NIL rights. Just last year, the Longhorns landed Arch Manning, who ranks third in Name, Image, and Likeness valuation, among all college athletes. Four of the top 20 NIL collectives are affiliated with Texas universities.\n\n\u201cDespite this early success, Texas institutions could find themselves at a competitive disadvantage against out-of-state rivals by the actions of another state legislature. A national solution for a national market is needed, which is why the Texas State Legislature requested in its NIL law that \u2018the United States Congress\u2026act on this matter to ensure the competitive integrity of intercollegiate athletics.\u2019\n\n\u201cNIL deals are not without risk of exploitation. Not unlike the booster scandals of yesteryear, university-affiliated \u2018collectives\u2019 can use NIL deals to recruit athletes on behalf of coaches and schools. If there is unethical pay-for-play activity, the NCAA and schools are largely powerless to curb it. My bill would address this challenge by empowering athletic associations to enforce recruiting and transfer rules. It would also create a registration system for agents so students can be sure a potential representative is knowledgeable, and it sets uniform contract provisions so NIL agreements contain safeguards that?protect the student-athlete. The bill also allows athletic associations to create a NIL database so athletes and their representatives can better understand a player\u2019s market value.\n\n\u201cFinally, the bill would ensure athletes are not deemed employees for purposes of employment law. This provision is essential to preserve the idea that student-athletes are students first and the focus remains on education. It would protect scholarship students so they could not be \u2018fired\u2019 for non-performance, and preclude the enormous financial pressure that would likely cause schools to cut non-revenue sports.\n\n\u201cCollege sports do so much to help mold young men and women. It teaches them about the power of hard work, self-discipline, humility, and cooperation. That is worth preserving. But how?\n\n\u201cDo we decide to take the path of creating a new federal agency and concomitant regulation of college sports, as well as the hyper-politicization that would soon follow it? Or do we want to preserve the self-governance model that Roosevelt and others chose more than 100 years ago? I prefer the latter.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-college-sports-are-bigger-in-texas-heres-how-we-keep-them-that-way"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.524137333035469, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}