It was always going to be an uphill battle to pass the Protect College Sports Act, and now the process is at a crossroads that has gotten the attention of President Donald Trump.
Following negotiations that took place between multiple conferences around college athletics and senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and others, we have officially reached a fork in the road.
There had been numerous phone calls between Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey over the last 24 hours related to their stance on the Protect College Sports Act, and whether or not each conference was prepared to put their support behind the legislation.
TICK TOCK: SEC AND BIG TEN RECEIVE REVISED PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT AS SENATE VOTE TIMELINE LOOMS
Now, as of Thursday evening, the mood has shifted in the nations capital as to whether this bill will ever make it to the Senate floor.
Earlier in the day, after OutKick-Fox News reached out for comment regarding their stance on the ongoing negotiations, a White House official had this to say about the legislation.
“The White House has been following these negotiations closely, and the President has been actively engaged. President Trump wants to save college sports, and he wants the bill done”
Clearly, Donald Trump wanted this legislation to make its way to his desk to be signed. But now, even with the potential for Senate Majority Leader John Thune to still bring cloture to a vote on Monday, which would allow the bill to be argued, there is dwindling optimism that anything of note will actually happen at this moment.
Essentially, all parties involved could not come to an agreement on certain language in the bill in time for vote.
“This is the legislation we need now. It will grant student-athletes unprecedented academic, health, and wellness benefits, rein in out-of-control agents, and stabilize transfer, eligibility, and revenue-sharing rules,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement.
“While no bill is perfect, I implore college sports leaders and Senators to support this bill now. It is our best chance to deliver the benefits and level playing field student-athletes deserve while providing the protections institutions need to sustain college athletics long-term.”
Obviously, things can change. But, the likelihood of that shrinks every day.
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The bipartisan bill was created to help navigate college athletics in this messy time, and out of courtrooms, with numerous eligibility lawsuits filed within the past week alone.
What were some of the potential revisions discussed?
The back and forth between conference members, along with senators, centered around a number of different issues.
In their concessions to those within the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, Notre Dame and Group of Six members, these were topics discussed over the past few days.
- The Multimedia Rights deals with athletes will be included in the cap. Schools will have to sign agreements noting that the money isn’t coming from the university.
- The bill would take a harder stance on tampering, outline a procedure along with penalties.
- A retention pool, separate from House settlement increased from $20 million to $22.5 million. This allows athletic departments to use funds to retain players already on rosters.
- A cap that is put into place which contains stricter guidelines currently in place. This would include NIL deals that involve ‘associated parties’ who are connected to the school itself through contract, advertising or media rights.
- Setting the amount of members each conference can have at 19. This would allow the Big Ten to add just one team, while the SEC could add three. Along with other conferences adding new schools.
- If a school were to move from one power-four conference to another, that school would have to then operate as an independent for a five-year period. This was a major sticking point, and not in the most logical way. But, it creates some protection for the Big 12 or ACC if either the SEC or Big Ten decided it wanted to raid their conference. Think of a school having to operate on its own for a five-year period, without the support of a conference, or revenue.
- If a school that is currently independent or in a Group of Six conference wants to move to a power conference like the SEC, ACC, Big Ten or Big 12, they can do this without pushback.
Obviously, with the clock ticking to get this legislation to the Senate floor, those in Washington were waiting on conferences to either put their support behind this or move on.
What we learned on Thursday was that it takes a lot longer than four weeks to come to an agreement on potential federal help.
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Maybe, universities should just handle this on their own and stop asking Congress for help.
I guess we’ll find out for certain over the next week, but the Protect College Sports Act is barely hanging on.
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