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A bill to allow colleges and universities in the state to enter into revenue-sharing agreements with student athletes received only positive support during a public hearing last week, though the University of Connecticut did offer one amendment.
The public hearing on House Bill 6446 was conducted by the state legislature’s Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee on Jan. 30. Among those speaking in support of the bill was UConn Director of Athletics David Benedict, who praised legislators for being at the forefront of the movement toward compensating college athletes.
“I want to thank this committee and everyone in the Connecticut General Assembly at that time for your vision and leadership on this matter,” Benedict said, “as Connecticut was among the first states to pass a bill on this topic, allowing our student athletes to be among the first to take advantage of NIL opportunities.”
NIL refers to college athletes finally being paid for use of their name, image and likeness, which the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has allowed since July 2021.
More recently, the NCAA has said it plans to allow schools to directly compensate athletes. That decision is a result of a proposed settlement of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit brought by former NCAA athletes.
A final settlement in the lawsuit is expected to be approved in April, and is expected to include paying former athletes backpay for lost NIL opportunities and a revenue-sharing model to compensate current athletes directly, beginning in the 2025-26 academic year.
Benedict told the committee that several states — including Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia — have either proposed or already approved legislation to allow schools in their states to offer revenue-sharing to current student-athletes.
Given the inevitability of the lawsuit settlement, Benedict said, “it is imperative that Connecticut once again be among the first states to act so we do not find ourselves in a detrimental situation in terms of student-athlete recruitment and retention.”
While generally supporting the proposed language of the bill, he did ask for one change.
“I ask you to consider expanding the definition of a student athlete to include students who have accepted an offer to attend a Connecticut university, but may not yet be enrolled,” he said. “This will enable our coaches to operate in the same manner as their peers who are actively executing contracts with recruits who have committed.”
Others who testified in support of the legislation included Jennifer Widness, president of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC).
Widness testified that CCIC’s member institutions have “not expressed significant concern about the bill language,” and added that members appreciate that the bill “does not require institutions to adopt a policy related to revenue sharing, as not every institution, conference or NCAA division is aligned on this issue.”
She added that the NCAA’s policies and “the legal landscape around the issue of NIL and revenue sharing” remain unsettled.
“There is some concern about this bill potentially conflicting with future NCAA policies and/or federal policy,” she said. “We hope that the legislature will be responsive as the situation evolves.”
Chancellor Terrence Cheng of Connecticut State Colleges & Universities also testified in support of the bill, stating that it “represents an opportunity to enhance student-athlete opportunities, while also presenting potential financial and operational challenges.”
Cheng said strategic planning and stakeholder collaboration “will be critical to its successful implementation across CSCU institutions.”
The Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee was scheduled to meet Tuesday and was expected to forward the bill to the General Assembly’s general counsel to produce an updated version.
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Hartford Business Journal provides the top coverage of news, trends, data, politics and personalities of the area’s business community. Get the news and information you need from the award-winning writers at HBJ. Don’t miss out - subscribe today.
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