TAMPA, FL – While the SEC was holding its annual kickoff to the upcoming football season this week in Florida, the bigger conversation was transpiring in Washington, D.C., around the ‘Protect College Sports Act’.
After being passed through the Senate Commerce Committee in June, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) are racing against time for the legislation aimed at creating guardrails around NIL, eligibility issues, transfers and even a conference realignment, with the SEC and Big Ten not providing their support for the bill in its current form.
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The bipartisan bill was largely created to help navigate college athletics back into a realistic situation, and out of courtrooms. After years of lobbying Congress for help, which led to the SCORE Act being created before this latest bill, there is a growing dissension between parties on how much actual help is wanted at the federal level.
After meeting numerous times this week, the revisions currently being discussed have not been presented to either conference as of Thursday evening.
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Obviously, time is of the essence, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune referenced to reporters on Thursday afternoon, with him mentioning that it doesn’t look as though it will reach the Senate floor before Congress goes on its August recess.
According to sources close to the situation in Washington, Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell are still working to get the bill to the Senate floor before the recess, while also continuing to work out revisions with the SEC and Big Ten regarding the legislation.
Also, there has been pushback on the thought that the bill is dead with the news that a vote would likely not take place in August.
“They’re working on language through the night, and that’s probably not how they’d be spending their Thursday night if there wasn’t a chance,” Sen. Maria Cantwell spokesperson Ansley Lacitis told /OutKick
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SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey speaks during a roundtable discussion on college sports in the East Room of the White House on March 6, 2026, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick looks on. The Trump administration hosted the event titled “Saving College Sports” with leaders from the Power Four conferences, media executives and former coaches. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Big Ten, SEC waiting to see revisions to legislation being discussed
Although the SEC and Big Ten conferences have repeatedly asked for congressional help, both feel as though the current bill is unfairly putting them in a corner, especially if the two are not allowed to add additional schools in the future.
In addition to previously reported issues, the section regarding the pooling of media rights has left a bad taste in the mouth of conference leaders from the SEC and Big Ten, with some voicing their displeasure that this current form would lead to them losing money on future television rights deals.
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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., attend a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee roundtable on the Protect College Sports Act and collegiate athletics in the Russell Building on June 10, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
During an interview with OutKick on Wednesday afternoon in Tampa, where he was asked how real the August timeline is, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey pointed out that if this were to drag on until Congress returns, there would be more important issues to be discussed in the House and Senate.
“I consider it a milestone (August timeline), the August recess,” Sankey noted. “Congress does return in September. Then once they’re through in September, you have budget battles, we’ve seen how those play out. So, it is important to try and keep moving, that has been a part of our communication, and there has been a lot of energy and effort expended by Senators, which we appreciate, to try and make adjustments.
“I think the reality is, if a bill is produced and advances, and it’s eventually signed into law, the view will be we’ve solved those problems. And, Congress is going to move onto taxation, funding whatever, international issues. You just make a list, they have a lot of important issues, and they’re not coming back to close gaps or solve problems. That’s why since the act was introduced, we’ve been focused on common sense adjustments to close the loopholes and make this manageable. There’s energy and effort in that, but that doesn’t mean we’re at the finish line yet.”
If both felt as though the pooling of media rights was actually ‘voluntary’, which both Cruz and Cantwell have said is the case, then there would most likely be further support from conference members.
But, at the moment, the SEC and Big Ten are waiting to see if their input on changes to the bill would actually come to fruition, with revisions that neither side have seen as of Thursday evening, as previously reported.
Will ‘Protect College Sports Act’ come to fruition?
There is no doubt in the eyes of conference officials and congressional leaders in Washington that work is being done to get this bill to the Senate floor.
The bigger issue was how senators were going to get such a complicated matter condensed into a bill that spans 100 pages, with issues that are running rampant across college athletics.
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But, there was always going to be a problem with timing.
Also, when you add in the potential limiting of conference expansion and revenue-sharing, there was going to be roadblocks.
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While work continues on trying to get this legislation onto the Senate floor for a vote, with the House being a whole separate issue as midterms loom, even if the revisions are presented to congressional leaders, along with the SEC and Big Ten, it does not mean we are getting a signed bill.
But, by the time this makes the Senate floor, whenever that is, there will most likely be another lawsuit filed pertaining to a player’s eligibility.
Or, as we like to call it in the college athletics world, ‘Just a day that ends in Y’.
