Tim Walberg Claims Rise In Foreign Student-Athletes ‘Jeopardizes Opportunities’ For U.S. Players

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During a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) spoke about the increase of foreign student-athletes.

Transcript

00:00Thanks to General Adina, I recognize myself for five minutes of questions.

00:05I'm glad the subcommittee is holding this hearing to discuss the future of college athletics.

00:11I don't see the future as bright if we don't get some control in understanding what athletics are for.

00:18And as a former athlete myself, not at the highest level, but the impact in my life was very positive.

00:25And athletics encouraged my academics, which was the highest priority.

00:30Ms. Wynn, I appreciated your testimony.

00:33That really is the essence of athletics and scholarship.

00:39Before I ask questions to our witnesses, I did want to bring up one college sports-related issue

00:44that I've heard a lot about from my constituents.

00:47Division I and II college athletes who are awarded scholarships at our universities

00:52are increasingly coming from other countries.

00:55According to NCAA data, international student-athlete participation has increased by 145 percent since 2001.

01:03One example is Division I men's and women's tennis, where foreign athletes make up over 60 percent of overall participants.

01:11In men's and women's ice hockey, they make up over a third.

01:15Sadly, college sports has become big business.

01:19And there's an increasing pressure to recruit foreign athletes to make money and win games.

01:25Unfortunately, these scholarship opportunities have come at the expense of American-born student-athletes.

01:31This is additionally troublesome because in the United States, college athletics partially serve as America's Olympic development program.

01:41In the 2024 Paris Olympics, 65 percent of the U.S. Olympic team were current, former, or incoming NCAA student-athletes.

01:51The increasing number of foreign athletes in college sports jeopardizes opportunities for American athletes

01:58and the global competitiveness of our athletic programs.

02:02Having said that, Mr. Nash, proponents of classifying student-athletes as employees have cited the substantial amount of revenue

02:11that certain college sports programs bring in and the potential for revenue sharing with these athletes as reasons for employment status.

02:20What does the law say regarding whether revenue generation is a factor in determining employment status?

02:31The law has been very clear that the amount of revenue that an organization receives is not a factor in determining

02:37whether someone is or is not an employee.

02:41Otherwise, if it was, businesses that lose money could claim that they shouldn't have to pay their employees.

02:47What matters, and the Supreme Court has made this clear many times, is whether someone meets the test

02:52or the definition of a common-law employee.

02:56Student-athletes, for decades, have been recognized as not meeting that test.

03:01And the fact that revenue has increased in sports like football or basketball

03:07shouldn't be a basis for changing that law.

03:10Appreciate that.

03:12Ms. McWilliams-Parker, in your written testimony, you state that reclassifying student-athletes as employees

03:21would place an even greater strain on already strapped athletic department budgets.

03:26What are some of the measures that athletic partners may have to take in response to an employment model?

03:33For our member institutions, and I would just speak for my colleagues as HBCUs,

03:39I mean, our conversation is, will we be able to sustain sports?

03:44Will we be able to continue to give scholarships?

03:47Will we have to reduce that?

03:49I think there's a high concern that we're already operating in deficits.

03:54So all this money and revenue we're hearing about, that's not funneling to smaller division schools,

03:59Division II schools.

04:00All the gate receipts that you see, we're all running deficits.

04:04And there would be a concern that we wouldn't be able to keep up.

04:09And so eliminating sports, and as we know, sometimes the Olympic sports and women's sports go first.

04:15And that would be tragic to see.

04:17When that opportunity for myself and Ms. Wynn, those are the concerns that we have.

04:22We can't keep up with the masses of what you all are talking about.

04:25We just want to give these students an opportunity, like I had, to play their sport,

04:30and to be able to get their college degree, and to represent like Ms. Macbeth is today, and myself.

04:36As a student athlete, why did you undertake athletics with the purpose of being a student?

04:44As I heard a student say the other day, and as I would say, sports saved my life.

04:49It gave me an opportunity that nothing else did.

04:52I could have done a lot of different things, but it was the pathway for my family, for me

04:57to get a college degree and to be able to make impact and to be prepared to be a commissioner today.

05:03I'm no different than any of my other colleagues.

05:06I just have a smaller representation of what you all see on a broader side of what you watched

05:12in March Madness.

05:14So the opportunity to play sport, and to have teammates, and to lead, and to guide,

05:21and to go through that strenuous work every single day has been necessary.

05:27My time has expired, but I wanted to hear that.

05:30You wanted to be a student athlete, but student first.

05:33Yes.

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