Pirate's Cove

Were Democrats going to support this in the first place?

Black lawmakers tank SCORE Act with calls for boycotts

The SCORE Act, a controversial piece of legislation that aimed to curb the big business of college sports, has been torpedoed by a coalition of Black lawmakers who argued it would harm minority athletes and benefit only top-level universities, coaches and programs.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), some of whom had previously voiced support for the proposal, in an unexpected reversal last week announced none of its members would vote for the act, forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to pull it from the floor.

They could very well be right. It was pulled back in December 2025, as well. Were updates made to it address the concerns? The AI synopsis says of it

Key Provisions of the BillFederal NIL Standards:

• Establishes a single, national framework for NIL rules, superseding the current patchwork of varying state laws.
• Athlete Employment: Legally classifies student-athletes as non-employees of their universities to protect the amateur status of college sports.
• NCAA Antitrust Protection: Grants the NCAA and its conferences limited antitrust immunity to enforce rules regarding athlete compensation, transfers, and eligibility.
• Mandated Benefits: Requires schools to provide minimum standards for medical coverage, academic support, and scholarship protections.

So, what’s the problem?

Fans, coaches and critics of the NCAA have in recent years lamented the intensifying corporatization of college football and basketball programs specifically, punctuated by a trend of top recruits and coaches jumping from one school to another, in many cases to chase more endorsement money or playing time.

The result has been a college sports ecosystem where smaller schools with tighter budgets are losing an arms race for top talent, and funding across athletics departments is increasingly being siphoned to football and basketball programs at the expense of women’s and Olympic sport programs.

Opponents claim the SCORE Act will something something, despite NIL and such already causing all those problems and enriching lots of bigger schools.

The CBC said it was unwilling to support any legislation that “benefits major athletic institutions that continue to remain silent while Black voting rights and Black political power are being systematically dismantled across the South.”

“For generations, Black athletes have helped build college athletics into one of the most powerful and profitable industries in American life,” the caucus said. “Yet at the very moment those same communities face coordinated attacks on their democratic representation, too many leaders across college athletics have chosen silence.”

So, it’s not really about Los Federales getting involved in the whole NIL/transfer portal/etc system (which, since it is cross-border commerce, then. But, should they?), but, the 100% Democratic Party Congressional Black Caucus is, as usual, having to go full raaaaacism. And then they wonder why race relations are poor these days.

Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), a Black former college athlete who played 10 seasons in the NFL, called it “sickening” that the caucus “is actively telling young Black athletes to forget their dreams and stop their education so they can further their radical political agenda.”

That’s what the unhinged CBC does. They aren’t interested in a good piece of legislation, they’re interested in race-baiting.

Anyhow, is this legislation something we need? Maybe if it takes a light hand, because it should be up to the NCAA. NIL is kinda nuts with the money some few make, certainly, but, it is the transfer portal where so many athletes who’ve committed to a college are constantly leaving that is a huge problem. Some schools seem to be losing a goodly chunk of their players. Often because the teams suck and/or the coaches are horrible in one manner or another. Again, though, is this something the US Congress should really be involved in regulating?