College sports bill vote not expected before August recess
A congressional source told ESPN the Protect College Sports Act is not expected to reach a full Senate vote before the August recess.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
A college sports bill vote that could reshape NCAA rules is not expected in the full U.S. Senate before Congress leaves for its August recess, a congressional source told ESPN on Thursday.
The measure, called the Protect College Sports Act, runs more than 100 pages and was advanced by the Senate Commerce Committee in June, according to ESPN. Backers had hoped it could clear the Senate by the end of the summer.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and one of the bill’s co-authors, has described the proposal as the “last, best hope” for federal college sports legislation after years of lobbying by schools, conferences and the NCAA, ESPN reported.
Without a Senate vote in early August, ESPN reported, the bill would have little time to make it through Congress before November’s elections start eating up attention in Washington.
What would the Protect College Sports Act do?
The bill would give the NCAA an antitrust exemption to enforce rules on spending limits, transfers and athlete eligibility, according to ESPN. An antitrust exemption would protect the NCAA from certain legal challenges when it applies those rules.
The proposal also would allow schools to package and sell media rights together as one large group, rather than only through individual conference deals, ESPN reported. The bill makes that pooling voluntary, but leaders from the Big Ten and SEC have raised concerns that they could lose part of the financial edge they have built through major TV contracts.
ESPN also reported that the current version would block the Big Ten and SEC from adding more members. That provision is among the areas senators have been considering changing as they try to win support from the two leagues.
Why are college leaders pushing Congress?
College sports officials have sought federal help since a 2021 Supreme Court decision made clear that schools could not work together to cap athlete earning power, ESPN reported.
That ruling, combined with state laws that pushed the NCAA to let athletes earn money from name, image and likeness deals, helped trigger legal fights that have made it harder for the association to enforce parts of its rulebook, according to ESPN.
The SEC and Big Ten, the two most powerful conferences in the sport, both oppose the Protect College Sports Act as currently written because they believe some provisions unfairly single them out, ESPN reported.
Cruz and Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, met with college sports officials in Washington this week to discuss possible changes. A congressional aide told ESPN that their staffs are still meeting to adjust the language.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who controls whether the bill gets a floor vote, was asked Thursday by a Punchbowl News reporter about the “NIL bill” and another unrelated measure. Thune replied, “I don’t think we’ll be able to get them done.” A source confirmed to ESPN that Thune was referring to an August vote on the Protect College Sports Act.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told ESPN earlier Thursday that his conference and others were still waiting to see revised wording.
“We have not seen language,” Sankey said. “We need to see language.”
Sankey said the SEC and Big Ten had flagged 10 issues at the start. He told ESPN that any restrictions on conference expansion should apply to all power leagues, not only the SEC and Big Ten, and said voluntary media-rights pooling should remain voluntary.
He also questioned why the bill addresses football scheduling, telling ESPN that Congress “has a lot to do” and should not be involved in that area.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.