Athlete safety and legal remedies emerge as flashpoints; advocates call for enforceable standards

Calls for enforceable athlete safety protections and access to legal remedies were a prominent theme at the hearing.

Ramogi Huma, executive director of the National College Players Association, told the committee Congress should act to require enforceable safety standards and an independent enforcement mechanism. “If the schools don’t do it, who does?” Huma asked, describing cases in which families said institutional processes failed after deaths and abuse. He urged party-level enforcement rather than self-policing by schools or the NCAA and said immunity or broad liability exemptions in federal law would harm athletes’ ability to seek accountability.

Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky pressed Huma and other witnesses on mandatory protections. Huma cited concussion protocols, heat-illness prevention and enforceable standards used by professional leagues and urged congressional mandates and oversight. “We need a referee,” Huma said, adding that civil suits provide discovery and deterrence when schools or conferences fail to provide information to families.

Conference representatives acknowledged the importance of health and safety measures. William King of the Southeastern Conference said conferences and institutions have expanded coverage and that some provisions in the settlement and proposals include post-participation medical coverage. He and Sharika Montgomery of the Big South said federal action could help standardize protections, but both also argued that liability protections tied to compliance with a federal standard would help give institutions the certainty needed to make long-term program commitments.

Several members, including Representative Lori Trahan and Representative Diana DeGette, cited specific high-profile deaths and abuses and urged Congress to couple any national NIL framework with enforceable safety oversight and clear remedies for athletes harmed by negligent or abusive conduct.

The hearing did not produce consensus on how to balance liability protection for institutions with athletes’ access to courts and compensatory remedies. Witnesses and members agreed on the need to reduce preventable harm but differed on whether courts or a federal enforcement body should be primary.