Senate advances landmark Protect College Sports Act, ignoring SEC and Big Ten opposition with clock ticking

In a landmark moment for the Senate Commerce Committee, the Protect College Sports Act is now moving to a full vote that has already started the lobbying.

As leaders from across college sports watched from afar, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) held court during a markup session on Thursday that ultimately took aim at those within the SEC and Big Ten conferences that have opposed the bill in its current form.

“What we did today was say we’re not going to let the most powerful, richest conferences dictate to the rest of America what’s going to happen to 500,000 athletes,” Cantwell said after a 19-9 vote was secured.

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There have been numerous leagues that have gotten behind the bill, while those representing the athletes have opposed.

But, garnering the support from those within the Big Ten and SEC footprint is clearly not an aspect of this process that both Cantwell and Cruz are worried about.

Let the lobbying continue, as opposition holding firm

On Thursday morning, the SEC and Big Ten released a joint statement on the legislation, making it clear they were not on board with giving it their support.

“From the outset, we identified a set of essential revisions to the PCSA necessary for the long-term sustainability of college athletics,” both conferences noted. “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.

“Despite our sustained engagement and good faith efforts, these critical revisions have not been accepted. We are encouraged that several Commerce Committee members share our concerns and support these recommendations.”

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For the first time ever, a college sports bill has passed through a committee vote that will now send it to the floor for a potential landmark passage.

“No one got everything they wanted. But, we did create a framework that stabilizes college athletics,” Cruz noted on Thursday.

As for the SEC and Big Ten opposing the bill, this comes down to a number of different issues, including the ‘voluntary’ pooling of media rights. Also, the legislation taking aim at both for potentially forming a ‘Super League.’ But, in a concession on Wednesday night, that changed.

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The anti-expansion provision in the bill now includes the Big 12 and ACC, with the senators changing the language that now includes conferences that bring in $700 million in revenue from not being allowed to join forces like the Avengers. This was a decrease from the $1 billion previously proposed in the legislation.

There will continue to be opposition from the two biggest conferences in college athletics, but Senator Cantwell made it clear on Thursday that they would not be deterred from pressing on, even if the SEC and Big Ten opposed.

What’s next for the Protect College Sports Act? A Senate vote

Will this ultimately work? Potentially, but there will be plenty of lobbying over the next month that could ultimately change the trajectory of this legislation. There are plenty of issues that remain to be discussed.

But, there were also a number of changes in the new legislation that was revised this week.

Olympic and women’s sports were separated from the media rights pooling provision, which now sits by itself. This would set a minimum scholarship and roster size limit, that isn’t tied into the revenue generated from television deals.

Before it was revised, these necessary protections would only be enacted if the media rights were actually pooled together.

As we have noted numerous times over the past few weeks, there is going to be pushback on this bill on multiple fronts. There is language in the legislation that limits player compensation and the ability to transfer.

Given that, those opposed to the bill are already preparing lawmakers for an increase in lawsuits that would come if you try to put a specific guardrail around player movement.

Also, there has been pushback from many regarding unions that oppose collective bargaining for student-athletes.

Either way, the vote on Thursday was historic in this current era of college athletics. For years, the House tried to push the SCORE Act through, but came up short multiple times, ultimately ending with the legislation failing to make it to the floor for a vote.

Now, with the Senate Commerce Committee opening up the opportunity for the Protect College Sports Act to be voted on Senate floor, this college athletics bill has essentially passed the historic point.

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But, with 50 days until Congress goes into recess for the summer, the clock is ticking for Senate Majority Leader John Thune to bring this to the floor for a vote. Can Cruz and Cantwell drum up enough support for this to pass?

That is ultimately just one part of this process, with the House waiting.