Jerry Nadler Questions Witness About Whether NCAA Is A 'Repeat Antitrust Offender'

21 hours ago

At today's House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) spoke to Andrew Cooper, Executive Director of the United College Athletes Association, about antitrust and the NCAA.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Chairman, Mr. Cooper, is it fair to say that the NCAA is a repeat antitrust offender?

00:07Yes. And how many times has the NCAA lost in court on antitrust grounds?

00:12At least four times so far. And the NCAA still faces antitrust

00:16violation claims today, correct? Yes.

00:20The proposed house settlement contains both a salary cap and a roster cap.

00:25Should these be subject to antitrust scrutiny, and if so, why?

00:29Yes, because the NCAA should follow the same laws as every other business in this country.

00:38All of which are subject to antitrust laws unless they secure an exemption

00:43through collective bargaining like every other professional sports league in this country.

00:48Now, the NCAA has argued that an antitrust exemption is necessary to protect college

00:54athletics generally and is especially important to protect sports other than football and

00:59basketball. Do you think that an antitrust exemption would be appropriate?

01:04And how much would such an exemption affect the athletes?

01:10An exemption is not appropriate. And on the notion that there is not enough money

01:17is categorically false. In the Big Ten, the collective endowments of those universities

01:22is nearly $95 billion. And in terms of the spending in the Power Four, the average

01:32operating revenue for a Power Four institution was $158 million a year in 2022.

01:39Their spending on coaches salaries was $29 million a year per school and $27 million a year on admin.

01:47And their average spend on medical expenses was $1.9 million per school.

01:53And how much does that leave for the athletes?

01:56How much of the spending is on athletes? And on student aid, they spent $15 million

02:02on average per school.

02:04And you don't think an antitrust, why would an antitrust exemption not be appropriate?

02:10You said it wouldn't.

02:11An antitrust exemption wouldn't be appropriate because it would give the NCAA power to abuse

02:18the laws and force athletes to, I mean, not follow the same laws as every other business

02:26in this country. They would continue enriching themselves off the backs of athletes without

02:30paying their labor force.

02:33And if the NCAA wanted to protect Olympic sports at colleges, what are some of the things

02:37it could do?

02:39The NCAA has zero policies that protect Olympic sports currently.

02:43A simple thing they could do is mandating a one-year notice period where the NCAA has

02:51to give notice that they are planning or that a school is planning to cut a sport.

02:55They could also pass a policy that says if your school has over $100 million a year in

02:59revenue, you can't cut sports because you can't justify that you don't have enough

03:04revenue to support those sports.

03:06Mr. Albiero, you noted the importance of Title IX, but the GAO found that only less

03:13than 7% of schools comply with Title IX and the NCAA refuses to require Title IX compliance

03:20and even found systemic abuse to not violate their rules.

03:24Mr. Albiero, couldn't the NCAA act to ensure women have equal opportunity and they're

03:29not abused by their coaches?

03:33Thank you for the question.

03:35In my opinion, we strive very hard at the University of Louisville to comply to Title

03:42IX rules.

03:46Certainly as a coach of female sport and as a father of a daughter who happens to swim,

03:52I feel Title IX has been an amazing opportunity and created an opportunity for athletes to

03:59grow in a protection for women's sport.

04:01You're saying that at your school you do that.

04:03Sure.

04:03But the GAO found that less than 7% of schools comply with Title IX and the NCAA refuses

04:10to require Title IX compliance and even found systemic abuse to not violate their rules.

04:18Why shouldn't the NCAA be required to ensure women have equal opportunity and they're

04:23not abused by their coaches?

04:25Yeah, I'm not previewed to other things that are happening around the country, if

04:30I may.

04:31Mr. McIntosh, you said in your statement that, quote, it is extremely important to the educators

04:37at our institutions that the focus of a student athlete's college tenure remain based on

04:42education, unquote.

04:44If that is the case, then why do athletes miss class for sports if it is extremely important?

04:50Thank you, Ranking Member Nadler.

04:53I think it's important to note that 94% of our student athletes graduate.

04:58That's our most recent graduation rate.

05:01While the schedule can be difficult and time constraints can be tight, our student athletes

05:07have shown that they can be successful in over 140 diverse programs within our university.

05:16Gentleman's time has expired.

05:18I yield back.

05:20Now recognize Chairman Jordan for five minutes.

05:22Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

05:23Mr. McIntosh, if we follow Mr. Cooper's plan, what happens?

05:28Thank you, Chairman Jordan.

05:29I think

Jerry Nadler Questions Witness About Whether NCAA Is A 'Repeat Antitrust Offender'

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