House Bill 188

[Maroon Blood]

Thoughts???

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2014 Regular Session

To: Universities and Colleges; Appropriations

By: Representative Scott

House Bill 188
AN ACT TO REQUIRE EVERY UNIVERSITY ELIGIBLE FOR A POSTSEASON BOWL GAME TO PLACE INTO AN ESCROW ACCOUNT 33% OF ALL REVENUE RECEIVED BY THE UNIVERSITY FOR BEING ACCEPTED INTO, PARTICIPATING IN, AND WINNING A BOWL GAME; TO REQUIRE THE UNIVERSITY TO DISTRIBUTE TO A GRADUATING ATHLETE HIS PRO RATA SHARE OF THE MONIES ACCUMULATED IN THE ESCROW ACCOUNT DURING THE ATHLETE'S ACTIVE ELIGIBILITY PERIOD; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. The Legislature finds that university athletes invest much time, effort and focus to their athletic pursuits which may result in the university's invite and acceptance to a postseason bowl game, earning significant monies for the athlete's institution. The Legislature further finds that athletic coaches are compensated generously from the bowl game revenues, whereas the athletes receive much less significant monetary gain from their hard work and dedication to the sport. Therefore, the Legislature deems it appropriate and proper to compensate those athletes monetarily upon graduation from the university.

SECTION 2. (1) Every university eligible for a postseason bowl game shall place into an escrow account thirty-three percent (33%) of all revenue received by the university for being accepted into, participating in, and winning a bowl game.

(2) Upon graduation from the university, the monies accumulated in the escrow account during the graduating athlete's active eligibility period at that university shall be distributed to the athlete according to his pro rata share.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.

[TheRef]

^^^ Huge if true ^^^

But in all seriousness, this may change the outlook for recruiting for us, TSUN, and USM if we pass this bill.

[FlabLoser]

Legislated NCAA rule-breaking. Sweet.

Go gatas.

[starkvegasdawg]

Legislated NCAA rule-breaking. Sweet.

Go gatas.

Bracky Brett was just admitted to OCH with severe chest pains and a very soiled pair of tighty whiteys after hearing about this.

[TheRef]

Legislated NCAA rule-breaking. Sweet.

Go gatas.

Technically would it be rule-breaking? They will receive the money AFTER graduation. Therefore, they're not bound by NCAA eligibility rules. Could be very interesting to think about.

[starkvegasdawg]

Technically would it be rule-breaking? They will receive the money AFTER graduation. Therefore, they're not bound by NCAA eligibility rules. Could be very interesting to think about.

That is true but you know if this passes you are going to hear Title IX screamed from the mountain tops. Not saying it is fair but you know it is going to happen.

[whosyourdawgy]

This would only open up more lawsuits. So how do you spilt the money among the players? The backup long snapper who never sees the field will get paid? I don't see this remotely passing.

[FlabLoser]

Surprised there is no bill to have MSU split its bowl revenue with every "university" in Mississippi.

[maroonmania]

Don't most schools barely break even and sometimes lose money on bowl games unless you are in a major big money bowl? Seems like if you take 33% of all revenue off the top to give the players then schools would really go in the hole.

[#660000]

That is true but you know if this passes you are going to hear Title IX screamed from the mountain tops. Not saying it is fair but you know it is going to happen.

Then have an account for each sport and change the wording to:
AN ACT TO REQUIRE EVERY UNIVERSITY ELIGIBLE FOR A POSTSEASON ATHLETIC EVENT TO PLACE INTO AN ESCROW ACCOUNT 33% OF ALL REVENUE RECEIVED BY THE UNIVERSITY FOR BEING ACCEPTED INTO, PARTICIPATING IN, AND WINNING A POSTSEASON ATHLETIC EVENT.

[TheRef]

This would only open up more lawsuits. So how do you spilt the money among the players? The backup long snapper who never sees the field will get paid? I don't see this remotely passing.

Yupp...every player on the team that makes it to the bowl game will be eligible for the money after graduation. Actually makes sense. Equally divide the money between all the players that were on the team that year.

[codeDawg]

Technically would it be rule-breaking? They will receive the money AFTER graduation. Therefore, they're not bound by NCAA eligibility rules. Could be very interesting to think about.

Yes. Promise of payment after eligibility is against the rules too.

[codeDawg]

Love it, but unnecessary. We'll see stipends after next year.

[starkvegasdawg]

Wonder what would happen if a player failed to graduate. Would it be different if he declared early for the draft or got kicked off the team? That would have to be answered because when the bowl game was played he was in the good graces of the team and school. If he partied too hard after the win and failed a random drug test and was kicked off should he still be eligible? This bill could have a ton of unintended consequences if passed as written.

[Political Hack]

I approve this message.

[Sacrifice]

You gotta think if we passed this bill then Alabama and LA would probably follow suit and 33% of there bowl games would be a hell of a lot more than ours. That would be devastating for our recruiting..

[Mjoelner34]

I'm not against it but why not do something like this for EVERY student that helps the university bring in money like those that work on multi million dollar research projects? Especially those that have to pay their own tuition and don't stand the chance of signing on with a company making over a million a year right out of college.

[MSUDawg4Life]

You gotta think if we passed this bill then Alabama and LA would probably follow suit and 33% of there bowl games would be a hell of a lot more than ours. That would be devastating for our recruiting..

Not really. They would still be limited by class (25) and team (85) scholarship rules.

[Johnson85]

I'm not against it but why not do something like this for EVERY student that helps the university bring in money like those that work on multi million dollar research projects? Especially those that have to pay their own tuition and don't stand the chance of signing on with a company making over a million a year right out of college.

Working on a multi-million dollar research project is a lot different from bringing the money in and I don't think there are any NCAA rules stopping MSU from paying market rates for research assistants. If there are students that can bring in the money that football and men's basketball players do, they can probably negotiate to be fairly paid on their own.

[codeDawg]

I'm not against it but why not do something like this for EVERY student that helps the university bring in money like those that work on multi million dollar research projects? Especially those that have to pay their own tuition and don't stand the chance of signing on with a company making over a million a year right out of college.

Not against it, but I don't think the same market forces are at work.

[MSUDawg4Life]

The NCAA is going to hammer any school that participates in this.

I'm sure the author of the bill has good intentions, but this might require a little more thought.

[Jack Lambert]

They could be cutting the nose off of Mississppi Div I football if the NCAA says it is against the rules. By law the schools have to do so to keep from breaking the law they just will not go to bowl games. The NCAA already had a red ass over our state flag and nothing I think would make them any happier.

[dawgoneyall]

Complete BS.

[dawgoneyall]

Hush up.

[FlabLoser]

Working on a multi-million dollar research project is a lot different from bringing the money in and I don't think there are any NCAA rules stopping MSU from paying market rates for research assistants. If there are students that can bring in the money that football and men's basketball players do, they can probably negotiate to be fairly paid on their own.

For starters, the NCAA is an athletics club and has nothing to do with the regulation of university research.

[DownwardDawg]

More govt. yay!!!

[whosyourdawgy]

So what kind of money are we talking about? I think the Liberty Bowl paid 1.2 million this year So that is 396,000 to be split amongst 85 scholarship players Do you pay the walk one too? That is 4658.82 per player. I just don't think this is gonna happen.

[bgover4]

The university only gets 1/13 of that, so that is 1085 per player without taking out any money for expenses, which would be travel and the hotel and all that stuff so by the time its all done you pretty much get nothing.

[Johnson85]

The university only gets 1/13 of that, so that is 1085 per player without taking out any money for expenses, which would be travel and the hotel and all that stuff so by the time its all done you pretty much get nothing.

The university gets a certain amount of money to cover the expenses of playing in the bowl. The remainder goes into the pot (with all the other SEC schools' bowl money, less their allowance for cost) and is redistributed to all the schools (I assume in 1/15th shares when A&M and Mizzou get their share).

[AROB44]

Complete waste of time. If the legislature doen't have more to do than this, then adjourn and go home.

[Political Hack]

So what kind of money are we talking about? I think the Liberty Bowl paid 1.2 million this year So that is 396,000 to be split amongst 85 scholarship players Do you pay the walk one too? That is 4658.82 per player. I just don't think this is gonna happen.

times four... or five if the player contributed on 4 or 5 bowl teams.

[hells bells]

Bracky just put the entire Mississippi Legislature on a 18 month suspension.

[Dawgbite]

Isn't this the same woman representative that wants my social security number to be available to the public if I buy a gun or ammunition?

[Martianlander]

Not sure this would even stand up in court for a variety of reasons. Also the semi-regulation on it would open it up for corruption. I know we can have the usual argument about paying athletes but if you have paid for kids going through college lately a scholarship is worth quite a bit of money.

[The Croom Diaries]

This is a terrible idea. If somehow this were to pass and then get through to the NCAA then other states would quickly enact similar laws. So Mississippi schools would be dividing up 33% of their $1 million payout bowls while Alabama is dividing up 33% of their $15 million payout bowls. We are already behind them, this would put us so far out of whack we'd never recover. What's more, this has to do with revenue and not profit, so if our payout for the Liberty was $1.2 million then we would have to provide the players with $400K. Considering the fact that we have to share all our profits with the SEC I'm sure we lived it up as much as we could and blew that money as much as possible. Now we have $800K to party on. I'm not sure how much we actually spent, but it could lessen the perks of bowl week.