Florida’s U.S. senators, Ashley Moody and Rick Scott, both voted this week against advancing the Protect College Sports Act in its first procedural vote as the bill moves through the Senate.
Scott and Moody, both Republicans, oppose the bill because of an expansion provision that would make it harder for two constituent schools—Florida State and Miami—to leave the ACC for another conference like the SEC, sources familiar with the discussions tell Front Office Sports.
The PCSA’s expansion provision would prevent any of the power conferences from merging, cap power-conference membership at 19 schools each, and effectively force any power-conference school moving from one league to another to spend five years as an independent (meaning without a conference) before joining its new conference.
In a statement shared with FOS, Scott confirmed that the expansion provision was one of his concerns—though he said he had issues with other provisions. “I believe Congress should ban men from competing in women’s sports and create some national standards to end the transfer portal chaos,” Scott said. “While this bill makes progress on those issues, it fails to address problems I have heard directly from universities in my state, like disagreements on conference caps, so I couldn’t support it.”
Moody’s office did not respond to a request for comment. However, she introduced an amendment that would give schools a 180-day grace period from the date the bill became law to notify conferences they intend to leave without having to spend five years as an independent. (To date, the amendment has not been adopted.)
It’s an open secret in college sports that some schools have considered further expansion attempts. FSU, for example, made its desires known when the school filed a lawsuit against the ACC in 2023; Clemson later filed its own lawsuit. The schools agreed to a settlement with the ACC in 2025 that would make exit fees less cumbersome and offer a new revenue-sharing structure, keeping the conference together—at least for the near term. (Despite Clemson’s history with this litigation, both South Carolina senators voted yes during Tuesday’s procedural vote.)
Now, FSU and Miami appear to be making overtures to keep their future conference options open—aspirations that have now reached the Senate floor. Bill co-sponsor Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.) confirmed to FOS on Wednesday that negotiations about amending the provision remain ongoing. “There’s still open conversations about what that might be,” he said, without promising the parties would reach an agreement.
Representatives for Miami and FSU athletics did not respond to requests for comment.
