December 23rd, 2023 by WCBC Radio

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has joined a bipartisan coalition of 18 Attorneys General in urging Congress to pass the NCAA Accountability Act of 2023. If signed into law, this legislation would ensure that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) provides transparent due process in its investigations and creates fairness for student-athletes, coaches, and higher education institutions. Additionally, it would establish a meaningful enforcement mechanism by authorizing the United States Department of Justice to take certain legal action, including fines or removal, against the NCAA or individuals who violate the law. 

This effort provides a real solution to a meaningful problem in higher education – the NCCA’s unchecked concentration of power – which leaves student-athletes vulnerable to mistreatment, distracts both students and universities from their educational priorities, and results in unequal treatment. 

Given the economic powerhouse that college sports have become, such NCAA investigations can harm not only the level of competition in respective sports but also damage the financial well-being of higher education institutions and their surrounding communities. Additionally, such investigations effectively deprive student-athletes of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities. 

The NCAA’s lengthy, opaque, and arbitrary investigations have become a cornerstone of its administration of collegiate sports. This Act would bring justice to the investigation process by mandating a legal framework to constrain potential abuses of the NCAA’s authority. 

In sending this letter to Congress, Maryland Attorney General Brown joins the Attorneys General of Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Utah.