The United States Senate Commerce Committee passes the Protect College Sports Act, moving college sports one step closer to a major overhaul mandated by the US government. The final vote on the amended bill was 19-9 across bipartisan lines. It now goes on to the full Senate for a vote at a date/time to be determined later.
Senate Commerce Committee Approves College Sports Act
The Setting
Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) called the bill “A framework to stabilize college sports.” He acknowledged that it is still subject to other amendments being considered in order to get the support of the Senate. When it does go before the full Senate, 60 yes votes will be needed for approval.
Among the changes in the current bill is wording that addresses the merging of conferences into a super league. The original write-up addressed only the Big 10 and the SEC. Those two conferences have opposed this bill from the beginning and felt targeted by this wording. The approved version now bans any of the Power Four conferences from merging for the purposes of forming a super conference.
The Media Issue Still Hovers
An amendment of Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) was also adopted. It addresses the pooling of media rights in negotiations. The original bill set a threshold of 75% approval from all schools to pool media rights. That would mean 103 FBS schools would have to say yes to the idea for it to happen. Schmitt’s amendment drops the threshold to 70% approval or 96 schools. A rough head count puts the current approval number at 109.
The SEC and Big 10 have vehemently opposed the idea of pooling media rights. As the two conferences that make the most money off their media rights, those two stand to lose the most. Just moments before the hearing started, the two conferences released a joint statement reemphasizing their opposition to the bill.
The smaller conferences favor it because it is the only way to close the significant media revenue gap with the big two.
Schmitt said there was no way to force the Big 10 and the SEC into joining the other conference in bundling the media rights negotiations. He added that he hoped the final iteration of the bill would find a way to incentivize them to do so because it was what was best for college sports as a whole.
Re-Establishing the Rules
Part of the goal of the bill is to provide the NCAA and the individual conferences with limited and qualified antitrust immunity. It seeks to end the near-weekly lawsuits over eligibility waivers and punishments for breaking the rules. Ted Budd (R-NC) added an amendment that was adopted Wednesday night that makes the protections, as they pertain to lawsuits, effective immediately.
Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) attempted to add an amendment during Thursday’s discussion that would eliminate schools partnering with private equity firms to manage the selling or leasing of schools’ marketing rights for merchandising and revenue purposes. The amendment was defeated by a vote of 20-8 that went across party lines.
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) expressed concerns about the bill, in that she said it did not protect the sovereign immunity rights of the states when confronted with NCAA or conference rules. “The ineptness of the NCAA has brought us to this point.” She ultimately voted in favor of the bill, but added that she would be working with others on an application of those concerns.
A Message to the SEC and Big 10
After the vote on the bill, one of its co-sponsors, Maria Cantwell (D-WA), had a message for the Big 10 and the SEC. “We showed that we are not going to let the most powerful, richest conferences dictate to the rest of America what’s going to happen to 500,000 [college] athletes. We are going to make sure the voices of people everywhere are heard.”
Where It Goes Next
It will take a few days for the final approved version to make its way to the Senate for consideration. The large-scale alterations in exchange for yes votes will continue during that time, thus ensuring this is not the final version of the proposed legislation. It will be up to Senate Majority Leader John Thune as to when it is time to put the bill to a full vote. Thune is also a member of the Senate Commerce Committee and voted yes for the bill on Thursday. The Senate is scheduled to go on its Summer recess at the beginning of August. It is unclear at this time if a vote will happen before then.
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