Senators Tackle College Sports Challenges
U.S. senators are stepping in to address the chaotic state of college sports.
On Wednesday, Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) unveiled a bipartisan bill aimed at tackling significant issues like student-athlete eligibility and the transfer portal.
The proposed College Sports Protection Act includes several key measures:
- Granting the NCAA antitrust immunity to enforce rules that have faced legal challenges.
- Limiting athletes to one “free” transfer during their college careers.
- Restricting coach travel during the season.
- Establishing a maximum of five years of eligibility for student-athletes.
- Blocking former professional athletes from participating in college sports.
- Allowing the NCAA and Collegiate Athletic Commission to set limits on payments to athletes from schools.
Cruz remarked to the Associated Press that this legislation is “not just an NIL bill; it’s a stabilization bill,” conveying that both he and Cantwell view the college sports landscape as somewhat disorganized.
Previous attempts to bring order to college sports, like the SCORE Act and the SAFE Act, have struggled to gain momentum.
This new bill takes cues from those earlier efforts, aiming to stabilize a college sports environment that has been transformed since NIL agreements were enacted in 2021 following a pivotal Supreme Court ruling.
There are concerns that NILs have been manipulated to bypass spending caps that were part of legal dealings between the NCAA and major conferences, allowing wealthier programs to gain an unfair advantage by using business partners to fund player payments through NIL deals.
The College Sports Protection Act seeks to close such loopholes, with Cantwell clarifying that the goal isn’t to limit players’ income.
She explained to ESPN, “If the parties want to come back to the table and say we’re going to raise the revenue cap to 50% of revenue, this bill allows them to do that. We’re not narrowing the opportunity for further revenue sharing. It’s crucial that we don’t let this devolve into an arms race.”
By granting the NCAA antitrust protections, the legislation also proposes to offer athletes “public protections,” like guaranteed health insurance and scholarships, alongside tighter regulations on NIL transactions from third-party agencies.
Additionally, the bill would prohibit mid-season coaching changes, which became a topic of discussion when Lane Kiffin moved from Ole Miss to LSU while Ole Miss was competing in the College Football Playoff last season. It would also enable conferences to aggregate television rights.
Though leagues wouldn’t have to join the media pool, those that do must allocate a portion of the revenue increase to support women’s and Olympic sports.
The bill, co-sponsored by Senators Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) and Chris Coons (D-Delaware), requires 60 votes to advance in the Senate.
