What looked like a last-minute lifeline for the ‘Protect College Sports Act’ turned into a 2 a.m. Senate dead end, even in spite of a late push from President Donald Trump.
After a frantic Friday filled with amendments, objections and pressure from the President to keep lawmakers in Washington, supporters believed they had a path to a vote before the August recess.
Senators and aides were called back to the Capitol late Friday night as momentum appeared to be building.
But in the early morning hours on Saturday, that push came up short. Unfortunately for Senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., along with Eric Schmitt, R-Mo, they could not garner enough support for a vote.
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“The Protect College Sports Act continues to show great momentum. Sens Cruz and Schmitt have worked tirelessly with the support of nearly every conference in the country, HBCUs and the Olympic sports committee. It’s clear that this bill is the only way to save college sports and women’s sports,” Cruz and Schmitt said in a statement early Saturday morning.
“While we are disappointed that we could not get the unanimous consent agreement to finish this week, we locked in a guaranteed vote in September. With the strong support of President Trump, we look forward to him signing the bill on college game day in the Fall.”
In what turned out to be an intense day of negotiations, Senators from both sides of the aisle met numerous times to discuss the legislation that kept college athletic officials and reporters glued to their phones over the previous 72 hours.
When the SEC and Big Ten voted to put their support behind the bipartisan legislation just one week ago, there was hope among everyone involved that they could get the bill to the Senate floor and send it to the House before the congressional recess.
On Friday, with the deadline creeping up on those looking to push this legislation through, a bevy of amendments were filed by Senators looking to enhance the bill in their eyes.
After days of anticipation about whether this ‘NIL Bill’ would actually be taken up for a vote, Senate aides were scrambling early Saturday morning to make their way back to the Capitol.
But, the intense negotiations turned into all sides laying down their swords, until September.
“Time may have run out to protect college sports in August, but there is plenty of time in September,” Senator Maria Cantwell said in a statement. “I’m glad Senator Thune set a date certain in September to bring it up because the challenges facing student athletes and universities aren’t going away.
“The Protect College Sports Act provides stability and gives first-ever federal NIL rights and scholarship and healthcare protections for athletes. And this bipartisan bill is how we protect women’s and Olympic sports. I look forward to its passage in September.”
Even with a push from President Donald Trump, this legislation was fighting against time, objections and the Senate ‘hotline’ that is used to essentially determine whether a bill would actually have the support to be voted on.
Future conference realignment in college sports put on the table?
It was actually Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) who filed the most intriguing amendment to the PCSA, taking issue with the five-year independent section that would force schools to abandon their conferences, like the ACC, for a number of years before being allowed to join another.
This has been an issue discussed by many across the ACC and Big 12 in previous weeks, wondering aloud what this would prevent in terms of being raided by the others, most notably the SEC.
Right now, under its current form, conferences would only be allowed to have 19 member schools in their league.
But, in terms of a school having to become independent for five years before joining a different conference, the issue was brought up by Senator Moody that it could benefit schools like Florida State or Miami in her home state, along with a number of others that have taken issue with the ACC in previous years.
The amendment would provide a 180-day window for schools to opt-out of their current conference before the law would go into effect, if it actually ever does. But, this realignment provision provides schools the opportunity to avoid the 5-year independent clause and start the process of moving on without punishment.
If you think the ongoing issues between the NCAA and student-athletes suing for a fifth year of eligibility are wild, just wait until a number of schools try to jump ship and join a new conference before Christmas arrives.
Don’t forget, Florida State and Clemson sued the ACC in 2023 over language in the conference’s ‘Grant of Rights’ pertaining to how much it would cost for schools to leave before the ACC’s television contract was set to expire.
While this might seem like a Senator doing her home-state school a solid, this ‘independent’ provision had already received pushback from plenty of leaders behind the scenes.
Plenty of pushback leading up to congressional recess of ‘PCSA’
Whether those within Senate offices pushing for a bill to pass this week wanted to admit it, getting this to the floor for a vote was always a tall task, especially with time not on their side.
As of late afternoon Friday, there were 10 different holds and objections to the bill being expedited for a vote, with an additional eight holds pertaining to the PCSA on its own. Early Saturday morning, while there were still ‘holds’ (objections) to the bill, that number had been reduced considerably.
Without unanimous support, along with the 60 votes of support needed to pass the bill, an actual vote was still being worked on from those involved.
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Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) took a shot at the legislation on Friday, aiming his comments towards providing the NCAA with enhanced protection that some do not want to provide on a broad basis.
“Make sure that this legislation doesn’t — either intentionally or unintentionally — absolve the NCAA, which lacks testicles and a spine, of any liability,” Burgess Everrett reported.
Also, there was pushback from outside the nation’s Capitol centered around the protection of women’s sports under this legislation, with Riley Gaines writing that this bill in its current form has a ‘fatal flaw’, arguing that this would give transgender athletes legal grounds to challenge state eligibility rules.
Friday afternoon, White House counsel released a letter to congressional leaders emphasizing that the ‘Protect College Sports Act’ would not preempt current state laws that prohibit men for competing in women’s sports.
“States may still legislate on the question of whether trans individuals should play on men’s team or women’s team.”
And then, when you throw in the National Black Caucus releasing its own statement on not being able to support the bill in its current form, the likelihood of the PCSA actually garnering enough support started to feel as though it was slipping away in a more significant way.
What happens next? It could be a long September off the field
This dragging into the college football season was always going to happen, no matter if the Senate took a vote this weekend or not.
The amendment process is going to take a lot more time than Friday provided, even if Senators decided to stick around for an additional day.
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Then, if it passed through the Senate, there were going to be potential changes made in the House before a vote would take place on this part of the congressional ladder.
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Right now, this is going to lead into September and beyond, with midterms upcoming and other key issues for leaders.
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So, here we are, with those in favor of the ‘Protect College Sports Act’ trying to keep its hopes of becoming law alive amidst pushback and proposed amendments.
It’s going to be a long few months ahead.
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