Ads with Silvio De Sousa? Kansas lawmakers weigh paid endorsements by college athletes

Imagine turning on your TV to see KU basketball forward Silvio De Sousa promoting a local car dealership. Or driving past a billboard featuring WSU basketball center Jaime Echenique pitching a discount furniture store.

That could be the future if the Kansas Legislature approves a measure allowing student athletes to get paid for endorsements. The state’s largest universities support the proposal, contending they must act now to stay competitive with schools across the country.

Kansas is wading into a national debate over whether to allow student athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness. After California last year became the first state to allow collegiate athletes to hire agents and strike deals (beginning in 2023), legislators across the country began considering similar moves.

At least 25 states, including Missouri in addition to Kansas, are considering their own legislation. They fear their top schools will lose recruiting power if too many other states open the door to paid endorsements.

Athletics officials at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University, along with the president of Emporia State University, urged lawmakers Wednesday to advance the endorsement bill, sponsored by the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

But there’s a catch: it only goes into effect if 15 states pass similar laws – assuring Kansas wouldn’t be one of the first, or last, to eliminate rules against paid endorsements.

The legislation permits Kansas colleges and universities “the opportunity to remain on relatively equal recruiting and competition grounds,” KU Athletics Director Jeff Long said during a Kansas Senate committee hearing.

“And for KU, that means each of our 18 sports would not be put at an unfair disadvantage,” he said.

Ultimately, athletics officials want a national law addressing the issue. But given the sometimes glacial pace at which Congress moves, they’re looking for a stopgap measure.

“Whether Congress is able to accomplish this prior to a number of states’ laws becoming effective remains to be seen,” said Allison Garrett, the president of Emporia State University.

When the U.S. Senate held a hearing on the issue last month, KU Chancellor Doug Girod urged approval of a federal law.

“Only a federal approach that creates a level playing field for competing athletes and universities makes sense,” Girod told the hearing.

Wednesday’s Kansas Senate hearing came the day before KU is expected to formally respond to allegations of NCAA violations, according to CBS Sports. The university’s men’s basketball program faces five Level I violations over alleged payments made by representative of Adidas to families of Jayhawk recruits in order to secure their commitment to play at KU. Adidas is KU’s apparel sponsor.

Long, the only KU official who spoke at the hearing, didn’t directly address the allegations. But the question of compensation for name, image and likeness — and whether it would induce athletes to pick certain schools over others — came up repeatedly.

“What protection would this legislation give an institution from NCAA sanctions if, in fact, there was a violation in the process or some type of inducement with the agent?” Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican, said.

K-State Athletics Director Gene Taylor, responding to Baumgardner, said he is concerned but added that agents are already involved with student athletes who may turn professional.

“We have had institutions get in trouble because a student athlete has signed on with an agent too soon and receive benefits from that agent and then they get put on probation,” Taylor said. “So we already have a system in place to hopefully protect against that.”

But Sen. John Doll, a Garden City Republican, asked whether the bill could actually tamp down on cheating that involves agents.

“We have a player that comes in that has no money whatsoever, none. They come in from the inner city or whatever,” Doll said. “If they were able to get money for their likeness and such, don’t you think this would help alleviate some of the cheating that is going on?”

During the hearing, athletics officials emphasized the vast majority of student athletes never turn professional. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t find ways to profit from their name.

Matt Lindsey, president of the Kansas Independent College Association, suggested local businesses will seek the endorsements of student athletes with the 20 independent colleges in the state, many of which are smaller schools with religious affiliations. Lindsey said his organization is taking a neutral stance on the bill.

“Adidas isn’t going to come calling. Nike isn’t going to come calling,” Lindsey said. “But plenty of local businesses might.”

The Star’s Bryan Lowry contributed reporting