Universities in Oklahoma would be “allowed to pay athletes to play football, basketball or other sports” under legislation that passed through the state Senate on Tuesday, according to Steve Metzer of the TULSA WORLD. The bill is a “trigger bill” that would kick in “only if federal lawmakers or the NCAA act to change rules currently on the books that prohibit universities from hiring athletes as paid employees.” Several other states have already enacted similar legislation, but already Oklahoma lawmakers have “raised several questions about the impact on Oklahoma taxpayers if universities classify athletes as employees.” Legislators have asked, for example, if athletes would be classified as “full-time or contract employees” and if they would “receive health care coverage and other benefits.” Lawmakers also asked whether state money “might be used to pay agents, lawyers or others representing athletes,” whether universities might be “required to pay for union memberships of athletes and about who would be responsible for withholding and paying taxes for all of those concerned.” Metzer noted details of how relationships might play out between athletes and universities will “depend largely on any future federal legislation or rules adopted by the NCAA.” Senators also aired questions about whether a “salary cap might be needed to maintain some semblance of an even playing field” between large, well-resourced universities and their smaller counterparts. Metzer noted some suggested that universities that “don’t have deep pockets simply won’t be able to compete in the future” (TULSA WORLD, 3/13).
