CONCORD — New Hampshire has joined a growing number of states debating whether to allow college athletes to be paid for their work or likeness.

State Rep. Garrett Muscatel, D-Hanover, has introduced legislation that would allow student athletes to ink endorsement deals and sell their names, images or likenesses. The bill, HB 1505, would also allow colleges and universities in New Hampshire to pay athletes directly, although it wouldn’t force them to do so.

“We need to make sure that college athletes get the rights that they deserve,” Muscatel, a Dartmouth College senior, told members of the House Education Committee on Wednesday. “We have a chance to lead the rest of the country.”

The NCAA, college sports’ governing body, prohibits student-athletes from being compensated by schools to play on their teams. Most top-tier colleges offer scholarships to prospective athletes, some of whom hope to obtain professional contracts later on. (As a member of the Ivy League, Dartmouth doesn’t give out athletic scholarships.)

The rules also ban students from getting paid for speaking engagements, making product endorsements or profiting from their names, images and likenesses.

Muscatel said that’s unfair and pointed out that, as an economics student, he is allowed to make money writing papers, entering competitions or even creating a YouTube channel that runs ads.

“Why should sports be any different as an extracurricular activity?” he asked. “The answer, of course, is profit.”

The NCAA reported annual revenues topping $1 billion, while the college sports industry makes up $14 billion of the American economy, Muscatel said.

But the bill isn’t just targeting top schools, Muscatel said. It also helps “the small town guys that want to get sponsored by their local auto dealers,” he said.

“It’s about people whose sports (career) and their value ends at the end of their four years in college and there’s not a real path forward,” Muscatel said.

Muscatel said he modeled the bill after California’s Fair Pay to Play Act, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in September. The legislation allows college athletes to be compensated for the use of their names, images or likenesses.

The law, which was passed unanimously by California lawmakers, takes effect on Jan. 1, 2023, and has resulted in about 20 other states taking up similar legislation.

“We need to address this issue,” said state Rep. Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill, a former school administrator and past chairman of the House Education Committee who predicted lawmakers will see similar bills in the coming years, including measures to allow athletes to form unions. “We have to start looking at it right now. If we don’t, we’re going to have 25 sets of different rules from state to state.”

State Rep. Werner Horn, R-Franklin, also supported the bill, telling committee members that California’s law is the first step “to address this massive fiscal inequity.”

Students and their families sacrifice to build sports careers but don’t “see a dime” until after graduation, he said. And if an athlete is injured, all their efforts are for naught, Horn said.

“All the time, energy and effort put in, all of the money that the universities and colleges have made off the backs of this athlete’s performance, all of that stays outside of (the student’s) family,” Horn said.

Reaction from the state’s largest public school was mixed.

The University of New Hampshire “agrees that student-athletes are indeed entitled to their name, image and likeness,” Marty Scarano, the UNH director of athletics, told lawmakers.

But Scarano asked that the House hold off on any new laws until the NCAA has time to act. He expects the organization to vote on new rules at its convention in January 2021.

The NCAA has said it intends to amend its rules, and its board of governors in October voted unanimously to allow student-athletes to benefit from the use of their names, images and likenesses.

“We’re all aware of this. Most of us align with the fact that the time has come to do this, to compensate student-athletes,” Scarano said, adding the NCAA is under pressure to change.

Dartmouth College officials declined to comment on the legislation Wednesday, saying the athletic director was not available until Monday.

Muscatel said after the hearing that he’s optimistic the bill will receive bipartisan support when the Education Committee decides next week whether to endorse the measure.

“I was very enthusiastic and excited to hear the support from across the aisle. A very diverse coalition came out to support this bill, and even the universities only had some small concerns with the bill that are easily going to be addressed in an amendment,” he said.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.