The measure earned support from Lincoln Sens. Adam Morfeld, Patty Pansing Brooks and Anna Wishart, who said it afforded new opportunities to college athletes, the overwhelming majority of whom won't join the professional ranks, without requiring the university to pay them a salary.

Supporters such as Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue said the bill ensures that student-athletes do not have "their rights trampled on by billion-dollar corporations like the NCAA."

Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, who has fought for decades to pass legislation requiring colleges and universities to pay student-athletes as employees, said the "multi-billion, high-octane entertainment business" of college sports profits off of the unpaid labor of athletes.

Hunt's bill, he said, would give those athletes, particularly from poor families, a chance to set themselves up for the future.

"This is a recruitment tool," he said. "If other schools allowed their athletes to do this, and UNL does not, then the players are not going to come here. They will go to school where they can receive some compensation for the misuse or use of their name."

Sen. Steve Lathrop said he thought Hunt's bill was a bad idea, but for the reason outlined by Chambers, said he would support it.