I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2688
To prohibit a student athlete from being considered an employee of an
institution, a conference, or an association based on participation in
certain intercollegiate athletics.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL7, 2025
Mrs. M
CCLAIN(for herself, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. LAMALFA, Ms. FOXX, Mr.
A
DERHOLT, Mr. THOMPSONof Pennsylvania, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. OWENS,
Mr. H
ARRISof North Carolina, and Mr. ONDER) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To prohibit a student athlete from being considered an em-
ployee of an institution, a conference, or an association
based on participation in certain intercollegiate athletics.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Student 4
Athletes’ Economic Freedom Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. EMPLOYMENT STANDINGS. 6
Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal or 7
State law, a student athlete (or former student athlete) 8
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may not be considered an employee of an institution, a 1
conference, or an association under any Federal or State 2
law or regulation based on participation of the student 3
athlete (or former student athlete) in a varsity intercolle-4
giate athletics program or a varsity intercollegiate ath-5
letics competition, or the existence of rules or require-6
ments for being a member of any varsity sports team. 7
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 8
In this Act: 9
(1) A
SSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘association’’ 10
means an organization that— 11
(A) has multiple conferences and institu-12
tions as members; 13
(B) arranges championships for varsity 14
intercollegiate athletics programs; 15
(C) sets rules for varsity intercollegiate 16
athletics programs; 17
(D) sets rules for varsity intercollegiate 18
athletics competitions; and 19
(E) is not a conference. 20
(2) C
ONFERENCE.—The term ‘‘conference’’ 21
means an organization that— 22
(A) has multiple institutions as members; 23
(B) sets rules for varsity intercollegiate 24
athletics competitions; 25
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(C) arranges championships for varsity 1
intercollegiate athletics programs; and 2
(D) is not an association. 3
(3) I
NSTITUTION.—The term ‘‘institution’’ 4
means an institution of higher education (as defined 5
in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 6
(20 U.S.C. 1001)) that sponsors a varsity intercolle-7
giate athletics program in the United States. 8
(4) S
TUDENT ATHLETE .—The term ‘‘student 9
athlete’’ means an individual who participates in a 10
varsity intercollegiate athletics program. 11
(5) V
ARSITY INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS 12
COMPETITION.—The term ‘‘varsity intercollegiate 13
athletics competition’’ means a competition involving 14
2 or more varsity intercollegiate athletics programs 15
sponsored by different institutions. 16
(6) V
ARSITY INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS 17
PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘varsity intercollegiate ath-18
letics program’’ means a team or other program unit 19
of an institution participating in a sport— 20
(A) played at the intercollegiate level; 21
(B) administered by an athletic depart-22
ment; and 23
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(C) for which eligibility requirements for 1
participation by student athletes are established 2
by an association. 3
(7) V
ARSITY SPORTS TEAM.—The term ‘‘varsity 4
sports team’’— 5
(A) means a team of student athletes orga-6
nized by a varsity intercollegiate athletics pro-7
gram to participate in a varsity intercollegiate 8
athletics competition; and 9
(B) does not include a team that is tradi-10
tionally characterized as an intramural or club 11
team. 12
Æ
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