Since its introduction to the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee by chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) in late May, the Protect College Sports Act has been met with resistance by college’s biggest conferences and support from professional organizations.
Now, two powerhouse universities from Cruz’s own state, University of Texas and Texas A&M, have penned a joint letter opposing the Protect College Sports Act, urging Cruz and other leaders to re-examine the bills current stance on student-athletes as employees and media rights.
“While we appreciate the efforts of many in the recently released Protect College Sports Act, there remain key issues with the bill as currently drafted,” said the letter by Texas A&M system board of regents chairman Robert L. Albritton and University of Texas system board of regents chairman Kevin P. Eltife. “While Texas A&M University and the University of Texas do not support this bill in its current form, we look forward to working with Congress and the Southeastern Conference to make the necessary improvements so that we can support the bill and ensure the future of college athletics is preserved for students, fans and institutions alike.”
According to KBTX, the Protect College Sports Act would establish national guidelines for student-athletes’ NIL rights and universities’ revenue-sharing structures. It also provides the NCAA and its major conferences with limited antitrust exemptions to address compensation and the transfer portal. Additionally, the bill would pool media rights of FBS schools if 75% of schools agree to join.
“If you look at it, the SEC is the No. 1 football game almost every single week,” A&M chancellor Glenn Hegar said. “So, the value that the SEC brings is extremely important, and us being able to contain and make sure that we have our media rights is extremely important to the value of this league and being able to hold this league together and staying together in one unified voice.”
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee advanced the bill from committee to the full Senate on June 18.
