America’s senators return to school to try to control the Wild West that has become a college campus.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday that addresses some of the most pressing issues that have seen student athletes expand their eligibility beyond the norm and place restrictions on the transfer portal.
Among the items addressed in the Protect College Sports Act are:
- Giving the NCAA antitrust approval to enforce rules that have been challenged in court.
- Limiting athletes to one “free” transfer during their collegiate career.
- Limiting the movement of coaches during the season.
- Limits student-athlete eligibility to five years.
- Prohibiting former athletes from returning to play in college.
- Allowing the NCAA and the College Athletic Commission to set limits on how much schools can pay their athletes.
Cruz told the Associated Press that the proposed legislation is “a stable bill, not a NIL bill,” and both Cruz and Cantwell said they “believe the college sports program is in chaos.”
Efforts to enforce a Wild West-like atmosphere in college sports have been met with pushback, with two previous attempts by lawmakers, the SCORE Act and the SAFE Act, failing to gain any traction.
The new bill takes pieces from previous efforts to try to bring stability to the college sports landscape, which has changed dramatically since the introduction of the NIL in 2021, following the Supreme Court’s landmark decision.
The NIL was reportedly used to override an agreement between the NCAA and its major conferences last year that they would match the spending limit as part of a legal settlement, but wealthy programs have used business partners to negotiate an agreement to pay players through NIL agreements.
The Protect College Sports Act would provide legal cover for the College Athletic Commission to close loopholes that have been exploited by schools. Cantwell told ESPN that the idea was not to cut back on players’ income.
“If the parties want to go back to the table and say we should increase the rate to 50 percent of the revenue, the bill allows them to do that,” he said. “We’re not discounting the opportunity for more financial sharing. … It’s important not to let this become a runaway arms race.”
In exchange for providing the NCAA’s antitrust protections, the bill gives athletes “public liability protections” that include health insurance and scholarship guarantees and stricter rules on NIL agreements from third parties and agents involved in deals.
Terms of the bill would also prohibit midseason coaching changes, such as the one involving Lane Kiffin’s jump from Ole Miss to LSU while Ole Miss was in the College Football Playoff last year, and would allow conferences to pool their TV rights.
Leagues will not be required to join the media pool, and those that do will be required to set aside a percentage of any fundraising to support women’s and Olympic sports.
Sens. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Chris Coons, D-Del., co-sponsored the bill, which would need 60 votes to pass the Senate.
