Big Ten, SEC Back Protect College Sports Act After Last-Minute Concessions

The Protect College Sports Act gained critical momentum on Friday night when presidents and chancellors from both the Big Ten and SEC voted separately to support the sweeping bipartisan legislation, rescuing a bill that had appeared on the verge of collapse just 24 hours earlier. The votes came after days of grinding negotiations between conference leaders and the bill's co-authors — Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), and Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) — produced revised language addressing the conferences' core concerns.

The central sticking point throughout negotiations was the so-called associated entities provision, designed to prevent schools from circumventing the revenue-sharing cap by routing money to athletes through corporate sponsors and multimedia rights partners. The final fix included an attestation requirement from outside entities — apparel companies and multimedia rights partners — certifying that deals with individual players are separate from any institutional arrangement and subject to review by the Collegiate Sports Commission. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey brought Sen. Schmitt directly onto the call with SEC presidents and chancellors on Friday night to help push the revised language across the finish line.

You wanted to sort of head off ways to circumvent that, this kind of redirection that's happened where it's a wink and a nod. Don't give us the money, give it to players X, Y, and Z, and it never really shows up. That's how you end up with football rosters that are like double or triple potentially what the number is.

— Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri), CBS Sports

Key Provisions

Among the concessions negotiated on Tuesday and Wednesday were a $22.5 million retention pool that schools may use to retain current players but not acquire players from the transfer portal, a prohibition on outside entities acquiring media rights to form a new conference, and a ban on compensating recruits before enrollment. Combined with the $21.3 million in revenue sharing from the House settlement and an additional $5 million for non-revenue sports NIL, the bill would allow schools to pay players as much as $48.8 million annually. Schmitt noted that Notre Dame's Pete Bevacqua had pegged the market figure at roughly $50 million, effectively validating where negotiations landed.

The bill also locks in protections for women's and Olympic sports, prohibiting the NCAA and Division I conferences from reducing the number of varsity teams, minimum roster participants, or intercollegiate competitions required for FBS membership. For athletes, the legislation guarantees one transfer without losing eligibility and establishes specific exceptions for additional transfers. The Trump administration added institutional pressure Friday morning by urging passage of the bill, sources told CBS Sports.

Glad to have their support. Now it's time to get the bill through Congress and on to President Trump's desk. Let's save college sports.

— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)

Both conferences released a joint statement Friday night: 'The Big Ten Conference and Southeastern Conference support the Protect College Sports Act as currently drafted, following detailed and productive negotiations with Senators Cruz, Cantwell and Schmitt and their respective staffs. We appreciate the substantial work that has gone into this effort.' The development sets up a potential Senate vote as early as next week, before Congress departs for its August recess.