H.R. 10266: No Elite Athletes Using X-pro status to ensure Prioritizing Recruitment Of Student-athletes (NEAUX PROS) Act

This bill would require colleges and universities that participate in federal student aid programs to stop allowing certain professional athletes to compete on their varsity teams in the same sport.

What counts as a covered athlete

The bill focuses on a student-athlete who has a professional sports contract in the same sport they want to play in college. In general, that means a binding deal with a pro team, league, club, or similar organization that pays the person for playing that sport.

It does not count as a professional sports contract if the person only has a name, image, and likeness agreement, as long as that agreement does not require them to perform athletic services for a pro organization. It also does not count certain compensation paid directly by a college, including some revenue-sharing payments allowed under existing NIL settlement authority or future federal law.

Main rule for colleges

The bill would add a new condition to the agreements colleges already sign to participate in federal higher education aid programs. A school would have to promise that it will not allow someone it knows, or reasonably should know, is a professional athlete to compete in intercollegiate athletics in the sport covered by that pro contract.

If a school violates that condition, the Department of Education could use existing enforcement tools under the Higher Education Act, including limiting, suspending, or ending the school’s participation in federal aid programs.

Guidance from the Department of Education

The Secretary of Education would have to issue guidance on:

• how much effort colleges are expected to use to determine whether a student-athlete is also a professional athlete, and
• a process for colleges or athletics officials to request a written ruling from the Department on whether a particular person counts as a professional athlete under the law.

Exceptions and transition rules

A person who has signed a pro contract could still avoid being treated as a professional athlete under this bill if, before receiving any pay under the contract and before performing any athletic services, they rescind the contract in writing and notify both the college and the pro organization.

The bill would also give a transition period for athletes who, on the date the bill becomes law, already have a pro contract in the covered sport and are already competing in that sport in college. For those individuals, the new restriction would not apply until the first day of the first academic year of the relevant college that begins after enactment.

Criminal penalties for certain athletics officials

The bill would create a new federal crime for a covered athletics official who knowingly recruits, offers enrollment to, signs, certifies the eligibility of, or otherwise causes a professional athlete to compete in college athletics in violation of the new rule.

This could apply if the conduct is connected to interstate commerce, or if the college received more than $10,000 in federal assistance in the prior year.

Penalties could include:

• a fine and/or up to 5 years in prison,
• up to 10 years in prison if the conduct was for financial gain or part of two or more violations.

The criminal penalty would apply only to individual athletics officials, not to the college itself. A defendant could defend against prosecution by showing reasonable reliance on a written Department of Education determination that the person was not a professional athlete, if that determination was still valid.

Other limits

The bill would not:

• stop someone from entering draft or selection processes for professional sports;
• change general NIL eligibility rules except where NIL pay is part of a professional sports contract;
• prevent colleges or athletic conferences from adopting stricter eligibility rules on their own;
• create a private right for individuals to sue under this law.

When it would take effect

The criminal penalties would take effect immediately upon enactment and apply only to later conduct. The college-eligibility rule would take effect at the start of the first academic year for each affected institution that begins after enactment, subject to the transition rule for current competitors.

Relevant Companies

None found.