Summer Lee Calls Out ‘Student-Athlete Exploitation’ As Schools Make Millions Off ‘Young Peoples’ Backs’

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) spoke about the lack of financial compensation for student-athletes.

Transcript

00:00Thank the gentleman. Now I recognize the gentlelady from Pennsylvania, Representative Lee.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I will say that I never thought that I would hear a Republican

00:08colleague call for socialism and redistribution of wealth and resources. But I'm excited to hear

00:14that such proposals do exist on the other side. But I just want to say that if you have been

00:18watching college basketball's March Madness tournament, like I have been for the last few

00:24weeks, then it should already be clear why college athletes deserves the right to organize and

00:29bargain collectively. But in case you haven't been paying attention, I would like to take just a

00:34moment to break some of it down. March Madness packed 67 men's and 63 women's basketball games into an

00:41action-packed 21 days. This year, for the second year in a row, this college basketball tournament

00:46generated around a billion dollars in revenue for the NCAA. With such high revenue, you might assume

00:53that players get a nice cut of that action. But your assumption would, of course, be wrong.

00:57While the schools behind successful women's basketball and men's basketball, or excuse me,

01:01women's basketball programs are splitting 15 million in prize money, and the schools of the

01:04successful men's team will share around 216 million dollars, their triumphant college athletes

01:10will walk away completely empty-handed. Beyond prize money, many schools will make millions of dollars

01:16off of these young people's backs. Last year, the Power Five conferences generated over 3.5 billion in revenue.

01:22You heard that, a billion with a B. While the NCAA and athletic conferences raked in billions,

01:28the outlook for the college athletes who made them their money is grim. In the 2019 survey,

01:33almost 25 percent of Division I athletes reported experiencing food insecurity in the last month,

01:39and nearly 14 percent were homeless over the last year. A study published by Idaho State University in

01:452022 found that more than half of the Division I student-athletes survey reported eating less

01:51often than they felt they should because there was not access to enough food. I request unanimous

01:58consent to enter into the record an article by a Wisconsin public radio title survey, and nearly a

02:02quarter of Division I athletes face food insecurity. Without objection, it'll be entered. Thank you. Mr. Huma,

02:08can you speak about the financial strain that far too many athletes face? You know, it's funny, this

02:15organization, my organization started out as a student group at UCLA when I was playing football, and I

02:22formed the group after my teammate was suspended because groceries were left on his doorstep when he was

02:27broken hungry. And meanwhile, they were selling his jersey in the store. They said it was an NIL violation.

02:33You couldn't have any benefit at all outside of what a regular student would have received. So this

02:38entire movement, much of it, at least my part and my organization's part, stemmed from food and groceries.

02:46You may have assumed that I played receiver or DB back in the day. I was a linebacker, and I needed to eat a lot,

02:51and I was undersized linebacker. But I went from eating five, six meals a day at home to three meals a day

02:57in a meal cart at UCLA. Immediately lost within a month, month and a half lost 10 pounds. You know,

03:02I'm trying to hit 300 pounders at 210 pounds. And it was tough. So fast forward to the surveys you're

03:11talking about. Unfortunately, much of this hasn't changed. You know, we did a study several years ago

03:17on what a full scholarship, you know, the room and board included, what that would provide an athlete

03:23to live off of and found that 80% of athletes would be living below the federal poverty line

03:28on those scholarships. In the backdrop, all the numbers you mentioned, all the revenue that these

03:33athletes are generating. Obviously, you talk about the motivations and people wanting to find some way

03:39to change the system, whether it be collective bargaining, employee status, all options need to

03:44be on the table to make sure that athletes are treated fairly.

03:47Thank you so much. Despite the incredible financial hardship experienced by many Division I

03:53athletes, NCAA has long argued that the system is fair because they're student-athletes and often get

03:58the value of educational scholarships at their institutions. So the free housing that we talked

04:02about, the free meal plan. However, Mr. Huma, I'm not sure if most Americans realize that college

04:07athletes like Division I football, basketball and volleyball players are managing the equivalent of a

04:11full-time job on top of their academics. While the public only sees them for a couple hours on

04:15television, athletes are putting in countless hours throughout the week. Very quickly,

04:18could you just describe what a typical schedule of a D1 athlete would look like?

04:22Well, first of all, it's year-round, year-round. You see them during the season on game day, maybe on TV,

04:28but it's year-round workouts, early morning rises, you finish late. The Pac-12 did a survey of their

04:34athletes and the average athlete across all sports reported spending 50 hours a week on their sport alone.

04:40So yes, full-time job, absolutely. And then a full-time student as well. Correct. Thank you. Based on

04:45the schedule you're describing, is it realistic to think that most D1 athletes can equally balance

04:49school and athletics while in session? No, no. I mean, athletics takes priorities,

04:54and in terms of degree completion, which is one of the goals for us to improve, they need more time to

05:00graduate on the back end. They need less time, less responsibilities put on their shoulders

05:04while they're athletes. And, you know, without that, you're going to have, you're going to continue

05:08to have lower graduation rates than you otherwise would. Thank you, Mr. Huma. As many of my colleagues

05:13have pointed out, a one-size-fits-all regulatory approach may prove difficult given the diverse

05:17portfolio of sports, divisions, and athletic conferences the NCAA represents, but giving these

05:23young people the right to bargain for better wages and hours and working conditions isn't that difficult.

05:28It's long past time that we cut the games and start calling out this billion-dollar

05:31business for what it is, student-athlete exploitation. I thank you all so much for

05:36your testimony and for being with us today, and I yield back.

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