The people who oversee the now want to run college sports … what could go wrong?
The has been called upon during the most important moments in American history to make difficult decisions about the future of our country.
We have navigated wars, economic downturns and national disasters.
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These are the kinds of nationwide issues that a federal government should address. The Founders never intended for the federal government to usurp the authority of your local school board or your homeowners association. I dont think it ever occurred to them that Congress would one day be charged with dictating the rules for college sports.
And yet, with gas at over $4 a gallon, a persistent war with Iran and $40 trillion in debt, the Senate decided the most urgent thing it should do is dictate how college sports are run from Washington.
It came to this decision, of course, after acknowledging that government caused the very problems this bill purports to fix. This is the exact scenario the great Harry Browne described when he said government “knows how to break your legs, then hand you a crutch and say, See, if it werent for government, you wouldnt be able to walk.”
I come to the floor today to offer an amendment that would avoid the federal takeover of college sports. Unlike the underlying bill, my amendment rejects the idea that politicians should run college sports. My amendment would put the trust in the schools, students, coaches and conferences to run their own sports.
My amendment accomplishes this goal simply by granting an antitrust exemption so that college athletes and schools can make their own deals, without unelected judges or politicians micromanaging every detail of compensation and eligibility.
Jason Russell, a journalist with Reason magazine perhaps summed up this bills federal takeover of college sports best when he wrote:
“The backers of the bill believe politicians, not the NCAA, should decide how many transfers are allowed. They think politicians, not conferences, should set a compensation cap on how much schools can pay athletes. They think politicians, not athletes and businesses, should get to decide what is a legitimate private contract. They think politicians, not the colleges, should decide how many schools are in the Big Ten and SEC. They think politicians, not coaches, should decide when a coach is allowed to leave a job.
“They think politicians, not athletes or agents, should get to decide what agent fees are. They think politicians should empower medical personnel, not athletes or coaches, to have “autonomous, unchallengeable” power to decide if an athlete plays or sits.
“They even think politicians, not the or broadcasters, should get to decide when professional football games are on TV. They think politicians should have a say in the length of the college football season.”
This bill is the culmination of a slow march towards federal control of college sports that began almost one-hundred and forty years ago in the courts.
In 1890, Congress enacted the Sherman Act. The Sherman Act is a piece of antitrust legislation. But, quite quickly, antitrust became a weapon against businesses of all sizes.
One of the most ridiculous examples of antitrust as a weapon of government control came in 1967. In Utah Pie Company v. Continental Baking Company, the courts determined that a bakery violated antitrust law by selling its pies too cheaply.
Not long after, in 1969, the government sued IBM for dominating the computer market by innovating too quickly. That case ultimately ran on for thirteen years before the government finally dropped it, saying that it was “without merit.”
The logic of antitrust became so contorted that the Fede
