By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
No sooner did the United States Congress begin making progress to help fix college athletics with the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act than Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti began flashing thumbs down.
Never mind that it was Sankey and Petitti – in particular Sankey – who have long wanted Congress to solve the issues in college athletics that they and other commissioners helped create, but have been unable to repair.
On Tuesday, the SEC and Big Ten offices released a joint statement of their issues with the Protect College Sports Act bill sponsored by Senators Ted Cruz (Republican from Texas) and Maria Cantwell (Democrat from Washington).
Joint statement on the Protect College Sports Act: pic.twitter.com/0sRlWCSvGY
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) June 2, 2026
“While we appreciate the leadership of Senators Cruz and Cantwell, we do not support the Protect College Sports Act as drafted. The bill leaves critical issues unresolved,” Sankey and Petitti said in their statement.
“It does not meaningfully preempt the patchwork of state laws or provide the protections needed to make and enforce consistent rules, both essential to long-term stability in college athletics,” the statement continued. “It also shifts ongoing rule-making to Congress, limiting the ability to adapt quickly as the landscape evolves. Rather than reducing litigation, the bill likely expands it without offering clear alternatives for dispute resolution. Finally, the bill alters the House settlement revenue sharing framework in a way that may result in fewer student-athletes receiving direct revenue share payments.”
Sankey and Petitti also do not like pooling media and television rights, naturally, because those two leagues make the lion’s share of money from televised football and men’s basketball games.
“My thoughts are careful what you wish for,” USA Today college sports columnist Blake Toppmeyer said on Tiger Rag Radio on Tuesday night. Click the red arrow above and listen to Toppmeyer’s complete segment on the show.
“Greg Sankey was at the vanguard begging the federal government for help,” Toppmeyer said. “He once said that, ‘Only congress could fix what ails college sports.’ Well, here’s your fix, Greg Sankey. How do you like it? He doesn’t like it very much.”
At the SEC Media Days football press conferences on July 17, 2023, in Nashville, Sankey said exactly what Toppmeyer said he did.
“The reality is, only Congress can fully address the challenges facing college athletics,” Sankey said. “The NCAA cannot fix all of these issues. The courts cannot resolve all of these issues. The states cannot resolve all of these issues, nor can the conferences. Whether congressional action is achievable is a matter of debate. But educational opportunity, supporting equitable opportunities for men and for women, ensuring the United States’ continued success in the Olympic Games, providing medical care, nutritional support, academic support, mental wellness counseling, these are nonpartisan issues that deserve a nonpartisan solution.”
Greg Sankey’s SEC … it Just Means More To Win Metrics Than Trophies. Column:https://t.co/Pz3yyaVOnh
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) May 29, 2026
Petitti also spoke of needing Congress’ help recently.
“Like everything else when something doesn’t work, you have to pivot and try to do something else,” he said. “We’ll see the Senate piece of it, and then kind of go from there.”
Parts of the bill can be changed via Senate Commerce Committee suggestions and approvals before the votes and before it becomes law – if it gets that far.
“This is what you risk when you spend five years begging the federal government for help, as Greg Sankey did,” Toppmeyer said. “Well, you might just get the federal government’s help, but you might not like the form in which that help comes. And that’s not the situation that Greg Sankey and the SEC find themselves in.”
The joint statement came on the eve of a hearing on the fast-racked bill that was happening Wednesday in front of the Senate Commerce Committee after it was first introduced only a week ago. Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua and Pacific-12 commissioner Teresa Gould were speaking Wednesday.
The bill was in many ways “built to pass,” Tiger Rag executive editor Todd Horne said to Toppmeyer on Tiger Rag Radio, partly by being bipartisan, and it has made fast progress.
“We’ll see,” Toppmeyer said. “I do expect it’s going to receive pushback in the Senate from the Democratic side. Already seen a little bit of that. I’m still in the camp of, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’ But this is farther down the road than anything we’ve had for the last five years. So, it’s got a shot.”
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