Five members of the House of Representatives, including Rep. John Katko (R-Syracuse), called for the NCAA Act — legislation that is aiming for NCAA transparency and protection of student-athletes — to be reintroduced in Congress in a press conference Thursday afternoon.

The act was initially introduced in August of 2013 and had been referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training in September of the same year. If the act were passed into law, it would mandate annual baseline concussion testing for student-athletes in contact sports, four-year scholarships for student-athletes participating in contact sports and would require a more defined due process for NCAA investigations.

“The NCAA will tell you that its goal is to protect the welfare of the student-athlete,” said Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Allentown, Pennsylvania). “But anyone who has been following the actions of the Association over recent years knows their rhetoric falls far from the reality of their actions.”

Throughout the call, the NCAA and college athletics was referred to as a “cesspool” and “evil.” Overall, the representatives placed an emphasis on improving conditions for student-athletes. Besides Katko and Dent, Reps. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus, Ohio), Bobby Rush (D-Chicago) and Glenn Thompson (R-Howard, Pennsylvania) also participated in the conference.

Four of the representatives — Katko (SU), Thompson and Dent (Penn State) and Beatty (Ohio State) — represent districts near universities that have been investigated by the NCAA recently. Rush’s district falls near Northwestern, where players aimed to unionize.

When asked if the conference was about “sour grapes” by a reporter, Reps. Dent and Beatty defended their intentions. Rep. Dent cited support from other representatives, and Rep. Beatty underscored the importance of concussion reform because her husband played college and professional football. Rep. Beatty was the Senior Vice President for Outreach and Engagement at Ohio State from 2008 to 2012.

Katko expressed his disappointment in the investigation practices of the NCAA, including in Syracuse’s case. He clarified that any transgressions by SU should be punished, but thought the NCAA, “chose to make sure (Jim) Boeheim was hammered in the report even though there was no wrongdoing on his part.”

He further emphasized that investigations typically hurt athletes the most, including those who weren’t at the institution when violations occurred.

“But this isn’t about Syracuse University or Jim Boeheim, this is really about NCAA sports as a whole,” Katko said, “and it’s been burning in my stomach for a while and now that I’m a congressman I can do something about with my colleagues here.”

“This is an organization that’s really gotten its priorities mixed up.”

Published on June 11, 2015 at 6:48 pm

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati