Missouri bill allows athlete earnings, higher tuition rates

The bill would add Missouri to a growing list of states enacting laws that would allow student athletes to earn money for autographs, sponsorships or other uses of their names, images, likenesses or athletic reputations.

Missouri lawmakers said it was vital to keep pace with other states, especially in the Southeastern Conference, where there is stiff competition to recruit top athletes. Governors in Georgia and South Carolina signed similar bills last week, and athlete compensation measures also have been passed in the rival SEC states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Mississippi.

“We need to get the blue chip recruits to the University of Missouri,” Republican state Rep. Kurtis Gregory, a former Missouri football player, said during prior debate on the bill.

The athlete compensation measure is included in a broader higher education bill that would repeal a cap — effective in July 2022 — on annual tuition rate increases that has been in place for more than a decade. That provision also would allow colleges and universities to charge different tuition rates for different types of courses, so long as they no longer charge course fees.