The Southeastern Conference and Big Ten threw their weight behind the Protect College Sports Act late Friday, rescuing a bipartisan Senate bill that had appeared headed for collapse. University presidents and chancellors from both conferences voted on separate calls to endorse the legislation following a week of intensive back-and-forth with Senate Commerce Committee staff, according to Politico.
The deal almost didn’t happen.
Both conferences issued a joint statement confirming support for the bill as currently drafted, thanking Senators Ted Cruz, Maria Cantwell, and Eric Schmitt for their efforts in reaching agreement. The measure still needs 60 votes to advance past a procedural hurdle before the Senate breaks for summer recess on August 8.
What Changed to Bring the Conferences On Board
The sticking point throughout negotiations had been how the bill handled so-called associated entities — third-party organisations such as multimedia rights partners and corporate sponsors that had been routing compensation to athletes above existing revenue-share limits. Politico reports that Commerce Committee staff confirmed in a Thursday email to conference commissioners that the updated bill’s language matched proposals the conferences themselves had submitted the prior week.
The revised text tightened enforcement around those associated entities, strengthened NIL disclosure requirements, added agent contract rules, and carved out new eligibility and transfer provisions.
A key financial concession also helped close the deal. Per Yahoo Sports, schools would receive an additional $27.5 million salary pool on top of the existing $21.3 million revenue-share cap established under the House settlement. The extra funds were intended to replace the above-cap payments that had previously flowed through associated entities.
Pressure That Forced a Deal
The stakes were laid bare earlier in the week. A Senate staffer told Yahoo Sports that if the conferences declined to back the bill and pushed negotiations into September, they would need to find new senatorial allies. It was a blunt signal. Cruz, Cantwell, and Schmitt were close to walking away, as Ross Dellenger reported.
President Donald Trump intervened late Thursday to push both sides back to the table, according to Yahoo Sports. NCAA President Charlie Baker also applied public pressure, urging immediate passage and warning that the current landscape was creating chaos and eliminating opportunity for student-athletes, per ESPN.
Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua was among the lead college football negotiators on the bill, working alongside commissioners from multiple conferences including the Pac-12 and American.
Senate Reaction
Cruz posted a brief message of thanks to the conferences and called for the legislation to move forward. Senator Cantwell said, per X/@TreyWallace, that progress could now be made on protecting women’s and Olympic sports and advancing the bill toward the President’s desk.
The vote count may be tighter than assumed. Senator John Hickenlooper told Politico he believed that to be the case, citing significant movement on the issues most important to Colorado.
Texas Tech regent Cody Campbell, a central figure in shaping the legislation, described the SEC and Big Ten endorsement as a major breakthrough bringing a Senate vote closer to reality.
