the BigAmateurism monologues

The Senate Commerce Committee is considering NCAA-protective legislation that would wipe from the books every proposed state name, image, and likeness law. The power of federal preemption—the removal of states from a regulatory field—is the vehicle through which the NCAA seeks this goal. This episode explores the nature and purpose of federal preemption and how the NCAA’s claimed justification for nullification of state NIL laws compares to the federal government’s historical use of that power. I discuss the genesis of the NCAA’s campaign for this exceptional federal power. NCAA-friendly legislation proposed by Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Roger Moran (R-KS) (both of whom serve on the Commerce Committee) contain sweeping preemption provisions that go far beyond NIL. Wicker and Moran have been instrumental in pursuing the NCAA’s agenda to claim the Iron Throne of college sports regulation. The Commerce Committee appears to have bought into the NCAA’s manufactured sense of urgency for immediate Congressional action before five state NIL laws become operational on July 1st. Yet, in the debate over NIL “compensation” for athletes, Congress has not analyzed whether there is a legitimate federal interest at stake that would warrant Congress’s use of its extraordinary Article VI powers.