NCPA supports US Senators' Framework for College Athletes Bill of Rights which is reflective of NCPA's goals for broad-based reform.
The National College Players Association (NCPA) gave its support to a framework put forth today by ten US Senators.
NCPA Executive Director Ramogi Huma, who has testified twice in the US Senate this year on college athletes’ rights hearings, stated, “This College Athletes Bill of Rights framework is reflective of NCPA’s vision for comprehensive reform to address racial injustice and exploitation that is rampant in NCAA sports.”
The framework includes the following:
“The push to restart college football during the COVID-19 pandemic without the enforcement of uniform best practice standards in pursuit of football dollars that the players themselves will never touch is just one more example of the exploitation college athletes endure under institutions of higher education,” stated Huma.
US Senator Cory Booker who is among the senators supporting the framework stated, “As a former college athlete, this issue is personal to me. The NCAA has failed generations of young men and women even when it comes to their most basic responsibility—keeping the athletes under their charge healthy and safe. The time has come for change. We have an opportunity to do now what should have been done decades ago—to step in and provide true justice and opportunity for college athletes across the country.”
Huma says federal legislation based on this framework can address the racial inequities highlighted in a recent study he released in partnership with Drexel University professor Dr. Ellen J. Staurowsky entitled, “How the NCAA’s Empire Robs Predominantly Black Athletes of Generational Wealth.”
The study incorporates data showing that Black FBS football and Division I men’s basketball players, many of whom are from low-income households, shoulder a disproportionate amount of the physical risks and negative economic impact as they comprise the majority of their rosters. Read full study: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z97vhcjErrHIvuO3Nu2wUWbG90bFKnm_/view?usp=sharing
The report recommends that state and federal lawmakers enact new laws to bring forth comprehensive college sports reform to protect college athletes’ physical, financial, and academic well-being. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Brian Schatz (D-HI) are among the senators who put forth the College Athletes Bill of Rights framework.