This document is a bill that proposes several reforms to compensate and protect college athletes. It proposes that university athletic teams must spend at least 30% of revenue on player compensation. It also prohibits the use of a student's name, image or likeness without consent and requires compensation of at least 10% of revenue if their name is used. Finally, it caps coach, NCAA and faculty salaries at $500,000.

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A BILL
To ensure university students receive fair compensation for their
contributions to their respective collegiate athletic teams by
compensating them with a percentage of team revenue in line with
professional equivalents; ensuring their compensation for any
merchandising or advertising related to their personal names,
images, and likenesses; and capping coach, NCAA, and university
faculty salaries consistent with the salary of the U.S. President.
1 Whereas universities have thus far been allowed to defraud
2 student-athletes, which student-athletes gained said
3 universities millions of dollars through television contracts,
4 merchandise revenue, and increased student enrollment
5 revenue by improving university prominence, but were not
6 financially compensated in return;
7 Whereas universities and the NCAA have reaped financial
8 advantage from student-athletes, utilizing their names, images
9 and likenesses to achieve substantial profit, as in the case of
10 O’Bannon vs. NCAA which dealt with EA Sports using Ed
11 O’Bannon’s name and likeness to sell video games with
12 compensation accordingly paid to the university and NCAA
13 but not student-athletes like O’Bannon;
14 Whereas Nike arranged deals worth millions of dollars with
15 university athletic teams to put student-athletes in Nike shoes,
16 substantially enriching both Nike and universities, with no
17 financial compensation provided the student-athletes;
18 Whereas the NCAA President Donald Remy recently received a
19 pay raise to $1.7 million and collegiate football coaches like
20 Nick Saban ($7.16 million) and Mark Dantonio ($5.64
21 million) receive salaries in the millions of dollars;
22 Whereas forty-two universities paid their presidents over $1
23 million annually and seventy-five universities paid their
24 football coaches over $1 million;
25 Whereas Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weiss is being

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26 compensated with nearly $17 million in severance pay to not
27 coach for the university;
28 Whereas the President of the United States receives less than
29 $600,000 in annual compensation;
30 Whereas universities and the NCAA should not be able to claim
31 non-profit status if compensating their leadership at higher
32 rates than the U.S. President, even though they receive federal
33 financing in the form of financial aid;
34 Whereas universities and the NCAA by not fairly compensating
35 student-athletes are reducing income equality, and stealing the
36 profits of the student-athletes who labor for them without any
37 compensation apart from, perhaps, a scholarship;
38 Whereas universities have been allowed to void the scholarships
39 of players injured in the course of playing for the universities,
40 taking advantage of the aforementioned benefits provided by
41 student-athletes such as Texas Christian University’s Kent
42 Waldrep, while refusing to pay for the medical injuries
43 incurred;
44 Whereas universities have thus engaged in false advertising and
45 forced labor, by promising a benefit (education) without
46 fairly compensating student-athletes in return;
47 Whereas universities receive federal funds in the form of
48 taxpayer-funded subsidies via financial aid and should thus be
49 held more accountable when it comes to executive
50 compensation, given that their funds are derived from
51 taxpayers;
52 Whereas NFL teams spend between 24% and 62% of their
53 respective team revenues on player expenses, NBA teams
54 between 30% and 63% of their respective team revenues on
55 player expenses, MLB teams between 37% and 75% of
56 their respective team revenues on player expenses, and NHL
57 teams between 31% and 79% of their respective team revenues
58 on player expenses;
59 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,

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1 1) University athletic teams are henceforth required to spend no less
2 than 30% of team revenue upon their respective team’s players in the
3 form of direct financial compensation. Both team revenue and player
4 compensation are to be reported to the IRS for purposes of financial
5 accountability.
6 2) Universities, along with the NCAA, are prohibited from using
7 a student’s name, image, and/or likeness in merchandising
8 without the student’s express written consent, or
9 allowing/consenting for such exploitation to take place.
10 Violation is subject to a fine of at least $5,000, half of which
11 shall be paid to the student, and the other half of which shall go
12 to the state treasury. Such fines shall not exclude additional legal
13 and financial penalties.
14 3) Any commercial deals which generate financial revenue from
15 the use of a student’s name, image, and/or likeness in
16 merchandising must compensate the student in question with
17 at least 10% of gross revenue from the use of their names,
18 images, and/or likenesses.
19 4) Coaches, NCAA, and university faculty salaries are hereby
20 capped at $500,000 with such cap indexed to increase according
21 to inflation every 5 years.