Tommy Tuberville Claims ‘Outdated Service Regulations’ Bar Cadets From Playing Professional Sports

3/31/2025

During a Senate Armed Forces hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) discussed his push for cadets to be able to play sports professionally.

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Transcript

00:00I'd be remiss if I didn't bring something up about sports.

00:05And I'd like to get each one of your thoughts about this.

00:08I've always felt that playing sports was invaluable to leadership development.

00:13Many of the cadets and midshipmen at your institutions are athletes participating on

00:18the various academy sports teams.

00:21They represent the best of your institutions and our country.

00:25Occasionally, some of these athletes develop to an elite level and are forced to forego

00:31living out their dreams of playing the sport they love at a professional level because

00:37of outdated regulations governing their service obligations.

00:43I'd like to see this year's NDAA reflect a serious commitment to these outstanding individuals.

00:50When appropriate, these cadets and midshipmen should graduate and commission with their

00:56classes and defer their service obligation until their professional sports playing careers

01:03are complete.

01:05These would be commissioned officers in our armed services subject to the same rules and

01:09regulations as their peers, while at the same time providing valuable exposure and increased

01:14visibility to the academics while they play sports at the highest level.

01:19I know that's not protocol for what we do as we speak, but General, I'd like to get

01:24your thoughts on that.

01:25With an all-volunteer military now, we are looking for possible ways to get more and

01:30more young men and women involved in our academies.

01:34Senator, the Army is a team contact sport.

01:40That's how I view the Army.

01:42And those young men and women that are coming into the Army, regardless of their background

01:47and upbringing, better be prepared to get involved in a team contact sport because that's

01:53what you all as the citizens of our nation ask of us.

01:57As a result, when we think through the development of leaders of character, I may not be the

02:05best player because numbers don't always define somebody's potential.

02:11I'm looking for the best player for the team.

02:13And for those individuals that have the elite capability to pursue professional sports,

02:21I absolutely support.

02:23And I think that we have to look at measures, as you outlined from a commissioning perspective,

02:30that would allow those individuals to go into the professional sport of whatever their talent

02:37is in, execute that, and then have them serve in the Army.

02:43And I think there are combinations of ways to do that through not only active service

02:50concurrent with their respective playing for a team.

02:56Of course, there are different things that have to go with that with moving them around

03:00and such if they're traded.

03:02Or there's the deferral of the respective active duty service obligation that they have.

03:07But I think that it results in multiple benefits, not only to each of our academies, but I think

03:15it benefits our services also through deliberate outreach and engagement that we would ask

03:21of those talented individuals.

03:25Admiral?

03:26Sir, when I was a Midshipman fourth class, Napoleon McCallum was my upper class.

03:31The original Admiral, David Robinson, was also an upper class.

03:35They were heroes of mine.

03:36I saw how brilliant they did in their careers to not only bring in incredible talent to

03:42the Navy, to the Naval Academy, as well to supporting our nation.

03:47There are many ways to serve, sir, and they did brilliantly in that.

03:50So I'm a huge fan of it.

03:51I appreciate that we may look at this.

03:53I think that the return on investment is incredible, and I fully support it, sir.

03:59General?

04:01General Tupperville, I also, as a freshman, looked up to one Chad Hennings, a monster

04:06of a football player.

04:07Big old boy.

04:08Yes, sir.

04:09Yeah.

04:10And benefited greatly.

04:11He also, during that time, his value was not only was he an amazing football player, but

04:17he also went out and served in fleet combat operations in Desert Storm during that time,

04:22bringing both of that media value, that recruiting value to bear, the service and the professional

04:28capabilities.

04:30And I believe where the NDAA is now, by giving us an opportunity for three per year, is a

04:34great opportunity for us to pick those truly elite athletes that can go on to that next

04:40level.

04:41As a data point, over the last five years, we've had 20 Air Force Academy cadets, or

04:46excuse me, 22, that have moved forward into professional sports.

04:5013 met their first seasons and, unfortunately, were not able to continue, and they came back

04:55to active duty, and nine are continuing.

04:58And over that time, that two to three is, I think, an opportunity for us to continue

05:01to go forward.

05:02I would also ask, sir, as we have this conversation for pro sports, to have a fulsome conversation

05:07of the impact of the transfer portal on our military service academies and how that is

05:13taking young men and women away from service to the nation until they've had an opportunity

05:18to blossom as leaders.

05:20Yeah.

05:21Well, that's a great point, and I look forward to visiting with all three of you about this

05:24before our NDAA is put together this June.

05:28NIL is a huge problem, and I understand it's a huge problem for you also.

05:32So again, I want to sit down with all three of you before we get to that point in June,

05:38and hopefully we can work something out, because I think it'd be a great tool for all of you

05:42for recruiting, because you all take our best and brightest, and all of us in here, all

05:48the senators and congressmen, we have an opportunity to send the best young men and women we possibly

05:53have in our states, and you do a great job with them.

05:55So I want to thank you for coming today.

05:58This is a fact-finding mission.

06:01We haven't done it in 30 years.

06:02We'll do it again next year, and hopefully we'll make it bigger and brighter.

06:06We just want to enlighten people about what you do, because leadership, discipline, teamwork

06:13is everything that goes along with what our country's about.

06:16And again, it's so, so important.

06:19We can't really do this enough.

06:21But thanks again for what you do.

06:23How you do it.

06:24And tell all of your cadets and midshipmen that we're for them, and I look forward to

06:29being on the Board of Visitors at the Air Force Academy this year and visiting with

06:33you.

06:34And again, you're our future, and we hope you use our young people at your convenience,

06:42but also give them the best and brightest future they can possibly get, because we're

06:45going to go as a country is how they go.

06:48So thanks again, and this has been a good hearing, and this hearing is adjourned.

Tommy Tuberville Claims ‘Outdated Service Regulations’ Bar Cadets From Playing Professional Sports

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