A broad coalition of free-market, taxpayer-advocacy, and constitutional-rights organizations—including The Market Institute—sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson urging swift passage of H.R. 4312, the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act. SCORE Act Letter – 12.1.25
At its core, the SCORE Act restores sanity to the name, image, and likeness (NIL) debate by offering a limited-government, pro-innovation alternative to the increasingly chaotic landscape of state-level mandates and progressive federal proposals. The coalition makes clear: if Congress does not act, Washington trial lawyers and labor activists will.
A Free-Market Framework for NIL
The letter highlights that the Supreme Court’s 2021 NCAA v. Alston ruling opened the door for education-related benefits, inadvertently accelerating a wave of conflicting state NIL laws. Now, student-athletes face a patchwork of rules and compliance traps—exactly the kind of scenario that invites federal micromanagement.
The SCORE Act instead takes a principled approach by establishing a consistent national NIL standard without turning the federal government into college sports’ central planner:
“The SCORE Act is the free market, individual liberty, limited government fix to the ‘name, image, and likeness (NIL)’ issue in college athletics.”
This approach empowers young athletes as entrepreneurs, not employees of a sprawling college-sports bureaucracy.
Protecting Student-Athletes from Trial Lawyers and Forced Unionization
One of the bill’s most important features is its shield against litigation abuse and labor reclassification:
“H.R. 4312 prohibits trial lawyers from suing under federal or state antitrust law. It also provides that athletes receiving NIL compensation need not be employees of these universities, protecting them from compulsory unionization.”
The alternative—the Left’s SAFE Act—would move college sports toward a union-dominated, lawyer-driven regulatory model that would crush smaller programs and reduce athletic opportunities. As the letter warns:
The SAFE Act “could require student-athletes to be classified as employees… forcing many of them into unions.”
It goes even further, proposing a federally run, socialized system of negotiating sports media contracts—an astonishing expansion of federal power into private broadcasting markets.
Broad Support from Across the Athletic Landscape
It isn’t just free-market organizations sounding the alarm. According to the letter:
“Thirty-one Division I athletic conferences… from schools with small budgets to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), have publicly endorsed the SCORE Act.”
These conferences understand the real-world consequences. A litigation-heavy, union-driven NIL regime wouldn’t just hurt powerhouse programs—it would devastate small schools, limit scholarships, and reduce opportunities for thousands of students.
Why Congress Must Act Now
The coalition’s message is simple: protect student-athletes by embracing competition and rejecting federal overreach.
Free-market principles work in college sports just as they do everywhere else. Young athletes deserve the chance to benefit from their own talent and hard work without being turned into political pawns or bargaining chips for trial lawyers and bureaucrats.
The letter concludes with a clear call to action:
SCORE-Act-Letter-12.1.25“The path forward is clear. We urge you to support the SCORE Act and oppose the Big Government SAFE Act.”
