The Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act is set for a vote in the House of Representatives the week of December 1. In a new insight, Director of Competition Policy Fred Ashton explains how the SCORE Act’s state law preemption and granting of broad antitrust immunity would reestablish the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) power to restrict athlete earnings.

Key points:

• The SCORE Act is an attempt to tame the recent chaos that has engulfed collegiate sports after athletes gained the right to monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL).
• For years, the NCAA – the governing body of collegiate athletics – limited athlete compensation to the cost of education; but antitrust litigation, Supreme Court decisions, and state legislation paved the way for athletes to receive NIL compensation.
• The SCORE Act would once again allow the NCAA and other collegiate athletic organizations to limit student athlete compensation by preempting state law and granting broad antitrust immunity, leaving athletes with little legal recourse to challenge rules or collusion that suppress their earnings.

Read the analysis.