Relating to certain athletic competitions between institutions of higher education governed by the state board of regents

This bill relates to certain athletic competitions between regents institutions. The bill requires an institution that participates in intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the national collegiate athletics association (NCAA) to schedule games against each other institution of higher education under the board’s control that participates in intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the NCAA at least one time each year in each sport the NCAA sanctions and that both institutions participate. The bill requires an institution to prioritize competitions against private in-state colleges and universities over competitions against out-of-state colleges and universities when making schedules or making contractual obligations that affect schedules for the institution’s NCAA athletics if both the institution and in-state college or university compete in the same NCAA division. The bill requires, when competing institutions are not in the same NCAA division or subdivision, that the competition take place at the athletic facility of the institution considered to be in the higher division or subdivision. The bill does not require an institution of higher education to comply with the requirements of the bill to the extent that doing so would cause the institution to breach a contractual obligation that the institution entered into prior to the effective date of the bill. For purposes of the bill, a contract renewed on or after the effective date of the bill is considered to be a new contract as of the renewal date.