The National AFL-CIO hosted a press call earlier this week with College Athletes, Professional Athlete Unions, families and advocates - joined by U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who spoke out against the Protect College Sports Act as it heads to the Senate floor. National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Players Association (NWSLPA) Executive Director Meghann Burke, Oluchi Okananwa - the University of Maryland Women’s Basketball Player and United College Athletes Association (UCAA) Interim President and Interim Executive Committee Member, and other speakers detailed how the Bill denies College Athletes protections and cuts off any path they have to advocate for themselves - which allows the NCAA, College Athletic Conferences and Schools to further consolidate money and power over Athletes’ lives. Okananwa said: “A CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) gives Athletes an actual seat at the table to negotiate compensation, health care, safety standards, academic protections and so much more. There is an important difference between being heard and having power. You can invite Athletes into a room, you can ask for our opinions, you can put athletes on committees, but if decisions can still be made for us without our agreement, that is not collective bargaining. We should not have to trade away our economic rights and legal leverage just to receive basic protections that Athletes deserve in the first place.” Senator Murphy said: “This Bill protects the billions of dollars that Coaches and Sports Industry Executives are making over the suppression of compensation for some of the most highly valued Athletes in the world. What we’re being asked to do is to basically allow Colleges and Conferences and the NCAA to illegally collude.”

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