After months of negotiations, the SEC and Big Ten were finally on the verge of agreeing to support the Protect College Sports Act last Friday. But the two most powerful conferences in college sports still had one final hang-up: How would the bill enforce the cap on revenue-sharing?
Ultimately, the conferences and senators leading negotiations—cosponsors Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), and Eric Schmitt (R., M.O.)—reached an agreement. The new version of the bill, released Tuesday, would substantially increase the amount of money schools could pay players and add more guardrails (though not ban) certain third-party NIL deals considered to be used for cap circumvention. The bill wouldn’t make cap circumvention violations a criminal offense.
First, the bill codifies key tenets of the House v. NCAA settlement: Players are allowed to receive revenue-sharing payments up to a cap (this year around $21 million). But it allows for essentially double the amount of revenue-sharing than the House settlement, however. It creates a “retention pool” of up to $22.5 million that schools can use across sports in addition to the rev-share limit.
The bill also allows players to continue to receive third-party name, image, and likeness deals that constitute a valid business purpose, and that are separate from rev-share. But it tries to ensure these payments don’t circumvent the rev-share cap (as some are considered to do now) through two processes.
First, players must submit those third-party deals for approval to the College Sports Commission, which oversees NIL deals. Second, certain companies considered to be used by schools to execute “cap circumvention” deals—called associated entities—must submit statements promising their deals are true, third-party NIL deals and not pay-for-play in disguise. These companies can include multimedia rights holders, which broker deals for schools and players, school apparel sponsors, or any other company that also sponsors the school. The schools must also provide these signed certifications.
According to a summary of revisions published by the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday, “the commercial sponsor must certify that it is funding the agreement and that the school did not provide or forgo money to finance it. The school may also be required to certify that it did not negotiate the athlete’s compensation or otherwise use the agreement to circumvent the cap.”
The College Sports Commission would be tasked with investigating and enforcing these rules. U.S. law enforcement would not be involved, and the bill would not establish a separate federal body to decide penalties. If a school breaks the rules, it could face suspensions, fines, or other punishments designated by the CSC.
Inching Toward a Vote
Several days after the Big Ten and SEC sign-off, the bill began to make procedural progress toward a floor vote.
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) filed for cloture, the first step in the process. Last Friday, Schmitt told Front Office Sports the goal wasn’t just to pass the bill with a narrow 60-vote margin. “I think that we’re going to try to run up the score as best we can,” he said.
But unless senators can come to an agreement to speed up the process until the final floor vote, it’s unlikely the vote could take place before the Senate recess on Aug. 7.
If that’s the case, the bill could technically still reach a Senate floor vote in September, sources have told FOS. But the closer the calendar gets to the midterm elections, the less likely the bill is to pass. If it doesn’t make it to President Donald Trump’s desk before the end of the calendar year, it’s likely dead.
