Protect College Sports Act won’t see vote before August, per report
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Proponents of the Protect College Sports Act will need to wait a little longer before a vote on it is taken up in the U.S. Senate. According to ESPN’s Dan Murphy and Pete Thamel, the bipartisan bill will not be voted on before Congress adjourns for its annual August recess.
The act, if signed into law, would provide the NCAA with an antitrust exemption that would allow the regulatory body to enforce caps on spending and allow one transfer without penalty, among other things. The bill is facing opposition from the SEC and Big Ten, however, with Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Maria Cantwell — its sponsors — “(meeting) with college sports officials in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss changes to the bill,” per Murphy and Thamel. Meanwhile, John Thune, the Senate’s majority leader, expressed pessimism over a vote before August, with Murphy and Thamel citing a report from Punchbowl News.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is “waiting to see new language in the bill,” along with “other leagues.”
“I fully appreciate that (Congress is) engaged and they want to be careful about sharing text, but … we really need to see what adjustments are being made to determine our position,” Sankey said.
The bill would also prohibit the SEC and B1G from expanding, one of the “10 issues” both conferences noted as sticking points.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
