Protect College Sports Act Delayed to September — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Protect College Sports Act failed to reach a vote during an all-night Senate session ending early Saturday, but Majority Leader John Thune placed it on the September calendar, calling it "teed up for next month."
- Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) — both from SEC states — were among the bill's biggest skeptics in the Senate, joined by the Congressional Black Caucus and AFL-CIO in formal opposition.
- Introduced in late May, the bill initially failed to win Big Ten and SEC support before those conferences signed on after late-June negotiations.
- The measure would raise the school revenue-share cap from $21.3 million to $48.8 million, while preserving "organic" third-party NIL deals like Caitlin Clark's State Farm endorsement.
- The House looms as a steeper hurdle: more narrowly divided, it failed repeatedly to bring the less athlete-friendly SCORE Act to a vote earlier this year.
- Co-sponsors Ted Cruz (R-Texas) predicted 60 or more Senate votes, while Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) framed the bill as how lawmakers "protect women's and Olympic sports."
- Playfly Sports Properties president Christy Hedgpeth told the AP NIL spending "is going to continue to grow," with multimedia rights companies not promising the new retention pool will actually curtail costs.
Why it matters: The bill's stated goal is curbing runaway college sports spending, but the marketing companies driving NIL money say it won't work — Playfly's president said costs will keep growing even under the proposed $48.8 million cap. With opposition from SEC-state senators, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the AFL-CIO in the Senate, plus a House that already failed to advance the rival SCORE Act, the PCSA's path to becoming law is narrow.
Ask SkimNews
