WASHINGTON — A piece of legislation that top lawmakers and college athletics leaders have called the best opportunity to bring stability to college sports is heading into a pivotal moment Thursday, as the senators behind it unveil an updated version shaped by weeks of feedback from schools, athletic conferences, and athletes.
The bipartisan Protect College Sports Act would establish rules around payments to college athletes, cap players at one transfer without penalty over the course of their careers, and put restrictions in place to prevent coaches from leaving their teams mid-season. The Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to debate the revised bill Thursday and may vote on whether to move it forward to the full Senate.
The bill is the result of months of back-and-forth negotiations between Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington — the two leading members of the Senate Commerce Committee. It comes at a time when lawmakers in both the House and Senate are wrestling with whether Congress needs to step in and regulate college athletics.
A number of athletic conferences have thrown their support behind the Senate bill, as have the NFL, its players’ union, and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. However, two of the most influential conferences in college sports — the Southeastern Conference, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Big Ten Conference, based in Rosemont, Illinois — have yet to endorse it.
The Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s backing comes alongside expectations that the revised bill will include stronger protections for women’s sports and Olympic sports. Sarah Hirshland, the committee’s CEO, wrote to Sens. Cruz and Cantwell this week expressing her enthusiasm for Thursday’s committee action and urging lawmakers to move the bill forward without delay.
Support for the legislation doesn’t break cleanly along party lines, a reflection of how widely SEC and Big Ten schools are spread across the country and the broader divisions that exist within Congress. While President Donald Trump has expressed support for the bill, some of his fellow Republicans have pushed back against it.
Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican and former Auburn football coach, has come out against the measure. “If we get involved in it, if you look at everything else we do, it doesn’t work,” he said. Tuberville has put forward his own separate bill on the subject.
Senate Democrats have largely stayed quiet on the issue. As of the eve of Thursday’s committee hearing, several Democratic members of the Senate Commerce Committee had not yet committed to supporting the bill, and further changes remain possible as amendments are expected to be considered during the session.
“I have not made up my mind,” said Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said he is also “still up in the air” on the legislation. Michigan is home to two major Big Ten schools — the University of Michigan and Michigan State University — and Peters noted he has been in communication with the conference. “We still are trying to get some changes that the Big Ten would like to see,” Peters told the Associated Press.
