On Tuesday, May 18th, Governor Hogan signed the Jordan McNair Safe and Fair Act into law that now offers economic and wellbeing protections to student-athletes in the state of Maryland.

Jordan McNair was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and was ranked top 25 nationally for offensive linemen. After choosing to attend the University of Maryland, McNair experienced heatstroke on May 29th and then died 2 weeks later on June 13th. When a further investigation was brought up, it was found that none of the medical staff checked in temperature and when he was finally brought into the hospital, he had a body temperature of 106 degrees. 

Since his death, the McNair Family has advocated for student-athlete protections’ and rights pushing to provide college athletes adequate protection to prevent another tragedy like this from happening again. The result of this push was the signage of the Jordan McNair Safe and Fair Play Act, which grants student-athletes to profit from their names, images, and likeness, while also providing much greater safety measures.

While the name, image, and likeness components of the bill were addressed last week by the NCAA voluntarily changing their policy, the health and safety measures are groundbreaking and will go a long way to ensuring the wellbeing of all of Maryland’s student-athletes. 

“The Jordan McNair Safe and Fair Play Act should be template legislation for every state in the upcoming sessions,” said Executive Director, Brian Hess. “We thank Governor Hogan,  Senator Ready, and Delegate Lierman for leading this important legislation. It was an honor to advocate for this bill alongside them and especially the McNair family.”