Senators Cruz, Cantwell strike deal on legislation to regulate college athletics, per report

Senators Ted Cruz (Texas) and Maria Cantwell (Washington) have struck a deal in their bipartisan legislation aiming to regulate college athletics, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports.

According to the report, the bill is called the Protect College Sports Act and, according to Senator Cruz, is “designed to save the part of college sports that fans actually care about.”

Notably, the bill includes the following measures to address the compensation issues that threaten to send college athletics into further anarchy:

• The bill limits all transfer portal entries to 1 per athlete throughout their college career, with permissible transfers allowed under specific conditions (including the departure of a head coach, etc)
• The bill also aims to police the cap, aiming to curtail above-the-cap spending by providing the College Sports Commission a path to enforce said cap without the threat of legal challenges.
• The option to pool media rights in effort to generate more revenue. Would need 75% approval among 138 FBS schools.
• Bars professional athletes — including international athletes — from participating in college athletics, defined as any player/athlete who has been compensated across their pro career. For basketball, as an example, this would include any player who signed an NBA contract.
• Establishes a 5-year eligibility length.
• Introduces the “Lane Kiffin Rule,” which would prevent coaches from leaving their teams before the end of a season while also barring schools from hiring coaches before the end of the season.

According to the report, no hearing has yet been scheduled for the bill, which is sure to face tough obstacles and has a long road ahead.

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.