College sports bill clears first major hurdle in the Senate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation to broadly regulate college sports has cleared a first major hurdle in the Senate as high-profile supporters, including prominent coaches and the NCAA, mount an all-out push for the legislation ahead of the midterm elections.

The Senate voted 74-24 Tuesday to begin consideration of the bill, a significant step forward. The legislation aims to put guardrails around escalating spending in college sports as the industry struggles to adapt to a new model in which schools can pay players. Major conferences, Senate leadership and President Donald Trump have backed the bill.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the legislation aims to quell “the chaos we have in college sports.”

“It threatens the viability of many college athletic programs, it threatens the roster spots and scholarship positions of hundreds of thousands of student athletes,” Cruz said. “It threatens women’s sports. It threatens Olympic sports. If Congress does not act, all of that is in jeopardy of going away.”

Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Commerce panel, called it “the last chance to save college sports.”

Still, the legislation faces opposition from several corners that could complicate a quick final passage in the Senate’s last three weeks in session before the November elections.

Some Republicans say it should have additional language on transgender girls and women in sports. Labor groups have concerns that it doesn’t do enough to protect athletes. The NAACP says that it will oppose the bill because lawmakers should not reward universities and athletic conferences “while many remain silent as Black voting rights come under attack in the states where they operate.”

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said ahead of the vote that the bill gives too much power to the NCAA without enough accountability for the athletes.

“Look at their history, it is not about player protection,” Booker said. “This is a money play, plain and simple.”

The legislation aims to allow schools to enforce national rules for competing and recruiting and create new guidelines around transfers and eligibility, the likes of which have landed the NCAA in court dozens of times just over the last month.

It would provide a limited lawsuit immunity for the NCAA with the goal of eliminating some of these lawsuits, which most recently have come up over the new college rule allowing players five seasons of eligibility over five years.

Another big feature in the bill is a redefinition of “third-party” NIL — the name, image, likeness sponsorship deals that most blame for spiraling costs in college sports. Under current rules, schools can share revenue of up to $21.3 million among all players across their athletic program.

The legislation would double the salary cap to nearly $49 million per school, with the hope that shifting the money from third-party NIL to under the cap will set a more realistic limit on what schools can spend.

Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the chamber. Democrats are trying to flip the Senate in November’s midterms, which can complicate the legislative agenda.

“We’re going to get one shot at this, and I don’t know if we ever will again soon,” said Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt just ahead of the vote. “We’ve got a moment.”

The bill, he said, could “define the trajectory of college athletics.”