Proposed DC Council Bill Allows Direct Payment to Collegiate Athletes

The Council of the District of Columbia is inviting public comment until Oct. 13 on a bill that would allow Georgetown University and other universities in the District to directly compensate student-athletes.

The Uniform College Athlete Name, Image or Likeness Amendment Act of 2025 would lift current D.C. restrictions on direct payments from institutions to student athletes and enable schools to negotiate directly with recruits. The bill comes after a settlement between a group of student athletes and the NCAA in June that established a new framework to allow universities to directly pay student athletes.

The D.C. bill would implement the legal settlement into local law since the District does not currently allow universities to pay student-athletes.

Indya Davis (CAS ’28), a player on the Georgetown University women’s basketball team, said the bill would rightfully allow student-athletes to be compensated.

“I think it’s time for athletes to be able to be paid directly, especially if they’re bringing money in for the school,” Davis told The Hoya. “I think it’s going to give us better opportunities to get our money’s worth and be able to show what we can do out there.”

Since 2021, collegiate athletes have been allowed to receive payment for use of their name, image or likeness (NIL) from third parties such as advertising agencies. Universities have set up NIL collectives, which connect donors with athletes to practically create an unregulated pay-for-play system.

Davis said the legislation could render collectives obsolete.

“You really didn’t know when you were getting anything,” Davis said. “It was a little chaotic, honestly.”

Hoyas Rising, Georgetown’s NIL collective, closed over the summer, the university announced in May.

Allowing universities to directly pay athletes will likely increase disparities between small and large universities, and between college football and men’s basketball and sports that do not generate revenue of their own, according to a CBS Sports analysis.

Three George Washington University (GWU) men’s basketball players submitted testimony in favor of the amendment.

The three players — Rafael Castro, Trey Autry and Christian Jones — said the proposed legislation would position D.C. universities to attract top student-athletes.

“Student-athletes can confidently choose to study and compete in D.C., knowing we are valued and on equal footing with our peers nationwide,” Castro, Autry and Jones wrote in the joint statement. “Without it, we risk falling behind in recruiting and retaining top student-athletes.”

Following the June 6 decision, the White House issued an executive order titled “Saving College Sports,” ordering the implementation of guardrails in athlete remuneration. It argues that allowing direct payment to players could turn NIL deals into bidding wars between schools as opposed to paying athletes in proportion to the money they earn their programs. It called this phenomenon an “unprecedented threat” to collegiate athletics.

Michael Lipitz, associate vice president and director of athletics at GWU, said at the Sept. 29 Council hearing that he is concerned about extortionate fees charged by NIL agents, which are unregulated, unlike agents for professional athletes.

“That’s a particular point, to make sure our student athletes are educated and informed to make good decisions in terms of who they select to represent them,” Lipitz said at the hearing.

Andrew Knispel (CAS ’26), a member of the Georgetown men’s heavyweight rowing team, said he thinks the new legislation will not create new imbalances in college athletics.

“I think the disparities are already felt,” Knispel told The Hoya. “I don’t know if this really alleviates them. I think it really does depend, school to school, how that money is allocated by the athletics director.”

Most NIL spending is funneled toward the revenue-generating sports, men’s basketball and football, with some of the top-paid college athletes in the Southeastern and Big Ten conferences receiving multiple millions of dollars in compensation.

Knispel said student athletes — especially those in popular or financially successful programs — deserve to be paid by their university.

“I think there should be a baseline as a whole for a team that does bring in a lot of money, because a lot of these, almost 99% of these sports, are team sports that involve more than one guy,” Knispel said.

Knispel said tensions may arise if one player is paid more than another on a team, but he believes the best players should be compensated.

“I think it’s a question of both individual locker rooms as well as level of competition,” Knipsel said. “But I think it makes sense that, you know, people who really excel and our stars on the team should be paid more.”