The bipartisan Protect College Sports Act, introduced late last month U.S. Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash), has been met with considerable resistance since its introduction.
The Big Ten and SEC released a joint statement Wednesday, saying the two conferences do not support the Protect College Sports Act as drafted due to “critical issues” it leaves “unresolved.”
"It does not meaningfully preempt the patchwork of state laws or provide the protections needed to make and enforce consistent rules, both essential to long-term stability in college athletics," the statement read. "It also shifts ongoing rulemaking to Congress, limiting the ability to adapt quickly as the landscape evolves. Rather than reducing litigation, the bill likely expands it without offering clear alternatives for dispute resolution. Finally, the bill alters the House settlement revenue sharing framework in a way that may result in fewer student-athletes receiving direct revenue share payments."
According to a press release, the Protect College Sports Act would "restore order in college athletics by creating enforceable national rules, preserving fair competition, protecting student athletes, while also ensuring that long-standing rivalries are maintained."
Specifically the bill would do the following:
Limit athletes to transferring schools only one time without penalty
Limit athlete eligibility to a maximum of five years
Prohibit former professional athletes from playing in college
Prohibit schools from poaching a coach from another school during their sport's season
Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban meanwhile testified before a panel of senators Wednesday, expressing his support for the act.
"Congress does not need to micromanage college athletics," Saban said in a nearly packed room during the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing. "Congress does need to fix the mess in the courts and create a national framework so the people inside college sports can enforce fair rules. Without that legal certainty, every rule becomes another lawsuit, every standard becomes another risk, and the system keeps drifting toward a professional model."
While Saban admitted the legislation in its current form may need work, he believes it's a path to a solution.
"I think it should be nonpartisan," Saban said. "It's that important in terms of college athletics, in terms of the future for young people. It protects athletes, it protects opportunity, it protects competitive balance, it protects the sports that do not always generate revenue but still matter. It gives college athletes a chance to move forward with rules that are clear, national and enforceable. For these reasons, I support the College Sports Act, and urge Congress to act."
The Congressional Black Caucus has also come out against the bill, sending am open letter to Cruz and Cantwell urging the Committee to pause consideration of the Protect College Sports Act of 2026 and related college athletics legislation until "athletic leaders meaningfully engage with concerns about attacks on Black political representation."
“The Congressional Black Caucus has transmitted formal letters to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, ACC Commissioner James J. Phillips, Ph.D., and NCAA President Charlie Baker demanding immediate engagement, meaningful action, and a public response regarding the ongoing assault on Black political representation throughout the South and across the nation,” the letter states.“Until college athletics leadership demonstrates a willingness to both engage on these issues and take concrete action in support of the communities that have contributed so much to their success, Congress should refrain from advancing legislation that would provide additional protections, authorities, benefits, or legal certainty to these institutions.”
The CBC, which unanimously opposed the SCORE Act in recent weeks, emphasized that college athletics leadership has a responsibility to communities that undergird their success, to fight back against continued Republican-led efforts to redraw congressional maps to weaken Black voting power across the South.
“For generations, Black athletes have helped build college athletics into one of the most powerful and profitable industries in American life. The success, visibility, and cultural influence of major athletic conferences and institutions are inseparable from the talent, labor, leadership, and cultural contributions of Black communities,” the letter reads. “The Congressional Black Caucus believes institutions that profit from Black talent and Black communities have a responsibility to stand with those communities when their fundamental rights are under attack. Silence in the face of injustice is not neutrality—it is complicity.”
The moves files a joint call by the CBC and NAACP for black high school student-athletes to boycott many schools in the south following the Supreme Court’s decision to peel back portions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
