Protect College Sports Act passes Senate committee amid Big Ten, SEC opposition

The bipartisan Protect College Sports Act cleared the Senate Commerce Committee 19-9 on Thursday, marking the first time a college sports reform bill has advanced this far in the Senate and setting up a potential floor vote before the August recess.

Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who co-wrote the legislation with Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), have been pushing to get the bill to President Trump’s desk this summer. Trump urged Congress in early June to pass it “this summer,” and Cruz has said he wants it done before the fall season kicks off.

After Thursday’s vote, Cruz told reporters that Senate Majority Leader John Thune “intends” to bring the Protect College Sports Act to the Senate floor, and Cruz believes that will happen in July, according to Yahoo Sports. The Senate’s scheduled summer recess runs from Aug. 10 through Sept. 11, leaving a narrow window to reach the 60 votes needed for passage.

The bill would establish the first comprehensive federal framework for college athletics, codifying NIL rights into law, replacing the current state-by-state patchwork with a single national standard. It sets a five-year eligibility window beginning at age 19 or high school graduation, guarantees athletes one transfer without losing eligibility and requires a second transfer to sit out a year with limited exceptions, caps agent fees at 5% and gives athletes a private right of action to sue schools over NIL rights, health and safety standards and scholarship protections.

The biggest revenue play: an amendment to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 that would allow schools to voluntarily pool and jointly negotiate their media rights, similar to the NFL’s model. Proponents say that could generate an additional $4 to $8 billion for college athletics, money backers want directed toward women’s and Olympic sports. The bill also bans the formation of a super conference, effectively blocking any potential SEC-Big Ten breakaway league.

More than 20 conferences, including the ACC and the Big 12, representing 228 colleges across 46 states, have publicly backed the legislation, along with the NFL, NFLPA, NBPA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Big Ten, SEC still not on board

The two most powerful conferences in college football remain opposed. In a joint statement released Thursday morning, the Big Ten and SEC said that despite “sustained engagement and good faith efforts,” their critical revisions to the bill had not been accepted. 

“From the outset, we identified a set of essential revisions to the PCSA necessary for the long-term sustainability of college athletics,” the statement read. “We have worked with both majority and minority staff to advance those revisions, which focus on better supporting student-athletes and stabilizing the college sports environment. We continue to believe revisions are needed to secure our support for the bill.”

The conferences said they are “encouraged that several Commerce Committee members share our concerns” and pledged to keep pushing for changes.

Their core objections center on the media-pooling provision, which SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has warned could expose the SEC to lawsuits and effectively force the conference out of the College Football Playoff if non-pooling schools are excluded from postseason play. The Big Ten holds a major deal with CBS and FOX; the SEC is locked into an exclusive agreement with ESPN. The private right of action provision — which both conferences called too broad — also remained intact in the final markup version.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a former college football coach who spent 14 seasons in the SEC at Ole Miss and Auburn, went to the Senate floor Tuesday to announce his opposition.

“Two weeks ago, my colleagues here rolled out a bipartisan bill that aims to fix some of these problems,” Tuberville said. “I respect the work that they put into it. I know it all too well. I know they’re trying to solve a serious and very, very hard problem. It’s almost impossible. But I think their bill goes too far.

“Trust me, if I thought it’d work, I’d support it. Unfortunately, it gets too deep into the businesses of universities, conferences and athletics departments while doing far too little to give the student-athlete the stability and clarity that, actually, they need.”

What the amendments changed

The most significant revision ahead of Thursday’s markup strengthened protections for non-revenue and Olympic sports. Under the amended bill, any Division I school reporting at least $80 million in annual athletic revenue must maintain current scholarship and roster levels for women’s and Olympic sports at or above the 2024-25 levels. The earlier version applied that requirement only to schools that opted into media rights pooling; the amendment extends it to all large-revenue programs regardless of whether they opted in.

Senators also pushed for language restricting mid-season coaching changes, a debate sparked in part by Lane Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU while the Rebels were still alive in last season’s College Football Playoff.

The bill now faces its biggest test. A Senate floor vote requires 60 votes in a chamber with 53 Republicans, making bipartisan support essential.