Less than a week after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law the bill permitting state athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness through sponsorships and third-party endorsements, which will go into effect July 2021, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio introduced a bill known as the Fairness in Collegiate Athletics Act. If put into effect, this bill would essentially provide a national standard regarding name, image and likeness. 

In the movement for student athletes’ rights, Florida’s Fairness in Collegiate Athletics Act is the first bill in the U.S. Senate to allow college athletes across the nation to profit from their identities. Since some states are independently choosing to allow NIL compensation for their college athletes, Rubio explains the urgency for similar legislation to be passed at the federal level, so that there is a national standard and so that all college athletes can have access to the same benefits. 

The push towards regulating NIL compensation is especially significant in uniting college athletics and ensuring a level playing field. For example, without federal legislation, athletes might ultimate choose to sign with one school over another based on the fact that one of them allows NIL compensation and the other does not. Now that state laws are allowing NCAA athletes to receive pay for their name, image, and likeness, Rubio explains that “the issue before us is no longer whether we want athletes to be compensated for their name, image and likeness or not … but whether they’re going to be all treated the same across the country, or whether we’re going to have 50 separate laws and, as a result, state legislative measures are going to become recruiting advantages for some schools over others.”

As states continue to enact independent NIL legislation, more and more focus must be turned to the federal level. The Fairness in Collegiate Athletics Act is Rubio’s attempt at establishing a national law. Specifically, the bill would require the NCAA to implement a policy for compensation by June 30^th, 2021, since Florida’s state law is set to go into effect the following day. In theory, the NCAA’s policy would supersede state laws in a preemption clause and become a universal standard. If not, then the Federal Trade Commission would be authorized to establish the policy on this matter.

Although Rubio is acting individually in introducing the Fairness in Collegiate Athletics Act, this campaign for student athletes and a national law regarding NIL policy is one that each of the Power Five conference commissioners have addressed. Rubio’s Fairness in Collegiate Athletics Act has already received support from the ACC and SEC.

The identities of student athletes are their own and theirs to keep… no matter where these athletes choose to play.