The Big Ten Conference has hired the Glover Park Group, making it the "latest college athletic conference to add lobbying firepower as Congress considers legislation allowing players to profit from name, likeness and images," according to Theodoric Meyer of POLITICO. The Glover Park Group will lobby on "developing a national solution to preserve the unique model of American college athletics, while modernizing the system to increase economic opportunity for all student-athletes on issues surrounding their name, image, and likeness." The Big Ten also hired Marshall & Popp and Subject Matter earlier this year (POLITICO.com, 5/19).
GETTING THEIR FEET WET: The AP reported the Power Five conferences "spent $350,000 on lobbying in the first three months of 2020, more than they had previously spent in any full year, as part of a coordinated effort to influence Congress on legislation affecting the ability of college athletes to earn endorsement money." The SEC was the "biggest spender, hiring three lobbying firms and paying them a total of $140,000." Before this year, the SEC "did not employ Washington lobbyists, instead leaving the work of influencing Congress to individual universities and the NCAA." SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey in a statement said that the conference hired lobbyists so it "could be part of the discussion as Congress gets more serious about reforming college sports." The NCAA is "pushing Congress for a federal law that would render those state laws moot and perhaps stave off future legal challenges." Each of the Power Five "hired the same two lobbying firms this year, and each of those firms collected $10,000 from each conference." The firms -- Marshall & Popp, led by ex-Republican congressional staffers; and Subject Matter, led by Democrats -- both "stated as their objective a 'national solution to preserve the unique model of American college athletics' while allowing players to earn money from their names, images and likenesses." The ACC and the Big 12 "each spent $60,000 -- $40,000 on their own lobbyists and $20,000 on the Power Five firms." Both conferences "had the same lobbyists last year, the first year either had spent significant money to influence members of Congress" (AP, 5/19).
