TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
The college sports world’s ticket to dramatic change – the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act bill – passed the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday morning and is expected to become the first bill related to college sports ever brought to the Senate or House floor.
The bill won by a touchdown and a field goal vote – 19-9.
Senator Maria Cantwell (Democrat-Washington) and Senator Ted Cruz (Republican-Texas) co-authored the bill last month. And former LSU and Alabama coach Nick Saban, now an ESPN analyst, gave a lengthy, informative and persuasive backing of it before Congress on June 3.
Mr. Saban Goes To Washington … and Takes Over.https://t.co/Bc38t9w7JD
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) June 4, 2026
Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, meanwhile, do not like how the bill pools the wealth of media rights of which the SEC and Big Ten get the lions’ share. But so far, they’re losing in getting the bill changed. A minimum threshold of 75% of the 138 FBS schools must be reached to pool rights. Even if the Big Ten and SEC did not sign off and the rest of the FBS did, it would be over 75%.
“What we did today was say we’re not going to let the most powerful, richest conferences (the SEC and Big Ten) dictate to the rest of America what’s going to happen to 500,000 athletes,” Cantwell said Thursday.
The SEC and Big Ten released a joint statement on Thursday after the bill passed this stage that was not a pleased one.
“We continue to believe revisions are needed to secure our support for the bill,” the statement said. “We are encouraged that several Commerce Committee members share our concerns and support these recommendations. We will continue working with stakeholders to ensure the bill delivers meaningful protections for student-athletes and lasting stability for college sports.”
Among other things, the bill would also introduce a one-time transfer rule and five-year eligibility clock for athletes. Coaches would be prevented from leaving at mid-season, and it would ban professional players from playing college sports, including international professional athletes.
The bill, if passed into legislation, would also grant antitrust protections around transfers, eligibility and the compensation cap, while also giving the NCAA’s new College Sports Commission strength to enforce its rules without legal challenge. The NCAA has been losing court battle after court battle for years now, rendering it weak.
In a change Thursday, the anti-super league part of the bill now applies to leagues earning $700 million in revenue, down from the $1 billion mark. This would now apply to ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC if voted into law. The language freezes conference membership if the bill becomes law.
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