Ted Cruz targets Senate vote on college sports bill this week
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Ted Cruz told CBS Sports the Protect College Sports Act 'is going to pass this week out of the Senate,' citing direct talks with Majority Leader John Thune and President Donald Trump, but a Commerce Committee aide warned cloture alone could drag on for several days.
- The Big Ten and SEC endorsed the bill late Friday after breakthroughs on associated-entities language and the revenue-share cap, which was set at $48.8 million — $21.3 million from the House settlement, a $22.5 million retention pool, and $5 million for non-revenue sports.
- Trump told reporters Monday that 'the NIL, or whatever it is, is very close to getting solved,' while Cruz envisions a signing ceremony on ESPN's 'College GameDay' this fall — but the bill still needs 60 votes to clear a filibuster plus House passage.
- The coalition now backing the bill includes 27 athletic conferences, more than 360 colleges and universities, the NCAA, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, the NFL and NBA players associations, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Cruz said.
- The Senate's final pre-recess week is tentatively scheduled to adjourn Aug. 7 and is already crowded with a spending bill, a budget resolution, and three or four additional competing items — meaning a missed vote could push the bill past midterm campaigning season.
- Co-author Sen. Eric Schmitt predicted 80-plus Senate votes thanks to the Big Ten/SEC endorsement, while Cruz credited Trump adviser Randy Levine and Cody Campbell, who leads the President's commission on college sports, with brokering 'very intense' weekend talks that broke the deadlock.
Why it matters: The bill would give the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption to enforce a cap on athlete payments and let schools pool media rights — a structural change that, per Cruz, would prevent a 'mini NFL' where the Big Ten and SEC 'continue to survive' while smaller-school programs get 'decimated.' Whether the procedural window before the Aug. 7 recess holds together decides whether this rewrite of college sports lands this year.
