The Senate Commerce Committee’s been hustling to advance a sweeping college sports bill. But honestly, no one’s sure when a vote might actually happen.
Even with support from the SEC and Big Ten, Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t put the Protect College Sports Act on the schedule before the Senate’s summer break. The bill’s goal? Setting up federal rules for Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) pay for student-athletes, plus a few other changes.
Senate’s Pre-Recess Priorities
With the Senate gearing up for a month off, the schedule’s already jammed. Thune’s got a bipartisan spending bill, a Russia sanctions package, and over 70 executive nominations ahead of everything else.
The Protect College Sports Act still isn’t on that list. Thune says talks about NIL are going well enough, but there are still issues hanging in the air.
Commerce Committee’s Optimism
Some Commerce Committee aides sound hopeful about getting at least a procedural vote on the bill this week. Still, they admit it’s not at the top of Thune’s priorities.
Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, ranking Democrat Maria Cantwell, and co-author Sen. Eric Schmitt have been talking with SEC and Big Ten leaders since the committee moved the bill forward on June 18.
Support from Power Two Conferences
The SEC and Big Ten—sometimes called the “Power Two”—publicly backed the bill late last week. That’s a big deal, since these conferences rake in huge revenue and have a lot of sway in college sports.
But the House? They’ve already left for their August break, which just complicates things further.
Bill’s Key Provisions
The Protect College Sports Act is supposed to create national rules for NIL compensation. Here’s what stands out:
- National Reporting Requirement: Student-athletes would have to report NIL deals to their schools and to an intercollegiate athletic association.
- Transparency in NIL Agreements: If a company already has a shoe or apparel deal with a school, they’d need to certify any separate deals with players.
- Prevention of Recruitment via NIL Payments: There’s tougher language to stop schools and their affiliates from dangling NIL money to lure high school athletes.
Revenue-Sharing Framework
The bill also takes on the tricky issue of revenue sharing. SEC and Big Ten leaders had wanted schools to spend up to $25 million above any revenue-sharing caps using a retention fund.
The latest version sets up a retention pool exception, letting schools go $20 million over the cap, plus another $5 million specifically for women’s NIL deals. This carveout would end after nine years, syncing with an existing antitrust settlement in college sports.
Flexibility for Non-Revenue Sports
The updated bill gives schools more leeway with Olympic and non-revenue sports. Instead of strict rules about scholarship and roster spots by sport, schools could swap out sponsored sports or tweak scholarship and roster limits as needed.
This tweak answers critics who thought the old version was just too rigid.
Concerns About Superconferences
The bill also tries to tackle worries about new “superconferences” or breakaway leagues. The SEC and Big Ten had complained that earlier drafts seemed aimed at stopping only them from forming a super-league.
Now, the revised bill broadens that restriction to cover other big conferences, too. Makes you wonder if that’ll be enough to keep everyone happy.
Presidential Support
President Donald Trump says he hopes both chambers will send him the bipartisan bill soon. Trump has butted heads with Thune lately, but he stressed how important it is to get this bill across the finish line.
“We have it, a bipartisan deal, as of right now. So we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. He added that he wants the Senate to vote on it soon, though he didn’t sound entirely certain.
For more details, you can check out the full article on Roll Call by clicking here.
The timing of the House’s August recess and the Senate Commerce Committee’s markup date for the college sports bill have been updated in this report.
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