NCAA president appears before Congress

Driving the news: Senators during the hearing questioned whether the NCAA could be trusted to get this right — and even Emmert publicly acknowledged that, as the NCAA works to revamp its rules, "we may need Congress' support in helping maintain uniform standards in college sports."

• This is indicative of the NCAA's fear that states will pass their own NIL laws with slight variations, leading to competitive unbalance across its 1,1000 member schools and regulatory chaos.
• National College Players Association Executive Director Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA football player, thanked the states for being the catalyst that brought the NCAA to the table.

What to watch: For all the frustration lawmakers projected yesterday, Congress "did not seem poised to act immediately," notes NYT's Alan Blinder — a result of a Washington consumed with election-year politics and "rooted in lobbying" (the NCAA spent $750,000 last year on lobbying).

• With dozens of states considering whether to follow California's lead, that wait-and-see approach could embolden them to take matters into their own hands and challenge the NCAA on their own.

Go deeper:

• California forces the NCAA's hand
• College basketball is losing its allure for top NBA prospects
• The NCAA's "Decade of Realignment," revisited