‘NCAA Act’ to be reintroduced in Congress
Now that the NCAA has started to make reforms to its structure, members of the United States government want to get involved again.
The “National Collegiate Athletics Accountability Act” is being reintroduced in the U.S. House. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) is helping lead the push for the revival of the bill which was first brought up in August 2013.
“The NCAA has failed, in my view,” Dent said via the Allentown Morning Call. “Failed miserably, actually.”
Dent also wasn’t the only person who had harsh words for the NCAA.
“In my mind, the NCAA is the last plantation in America,” Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), who sought a presidential oversight committee in a bill earlier this year. “It takes the capital and talent and skills of its participants, under the guise of being amateurs, promises them an education, but then exploits their labor, without pay I might add. … The NCAA is nothing but a cabal profiteering at the expense of our student-athletes, and also to the detriment of all of us.”
Here’s what the bill includes:
• requires annual baseline concussion testing of student athletes on the active roster of teams participating in contact/collision or limited-contact/impact sports before they participate in any contact drills or activities;
• holds remedies for violations of its policies in abeyance until the schools and student athletes subject to those remedies have been afforded certain due process procedures;
• requires athletically-related student aid provided to student athletes who play contact/collision sports to be guaranteed for the duration of their attendance at the school, up to four years, and irrevocable for reasons related to skill or injury; and
• does not prevent schools from paying stipends to student athletes.
Seems a bit redundant with what’s gone on in the NCAA over the past 18 months, don’t you think? It’s also worth noting that two of the representatives backing the bill may not be doing so for altruistic reasons. Dent, who went to Penn State, said the bill was initially created because of the sanctioning body’s response to his letters after the punishment to Penn State in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. Those punishments have all either expired or been rescinded.
Another representative, Rep. John Katko (R-NY), is upset with the way the NCAA punished Syracuse and basketball coach Jim Boeheim.
With their anger taken into account, we also still can’t help but wonder why the bill hasn’t been significantly altered to reflect what’s changed in the NCAA since its original introduction.
Many conferences have outlined new concussion and injury policies in the recent weeks and months. Multi-year scholarships at Power Five schools were approved in January. Other conferences and schools will likely follow suit.
We admit, stronger oversight and enforcement of schools breaking NCAA rules sounds like a really good idea. However, we’re not sure if governmental oversight is the way to remedy the issue. With our Congress at a purposeful and constant stalemate, why do we want it involved with the NCAA? We should all be able to agree that there are much more important things for our tax money to pay for.
The NCAA needs more tweaking. What’s happened over the last year is just a start. But Congress shouldn’t jump in until it can prove it can quickly and efficiently pass a budget for the country. And we know that won’t be happening anytime soon.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
