The U.S. Senate has passed the Protect College Sports bill.
Among other things, it codifies an athlete’s right to earn NIL money, establishes a five-year eligibility window with one transfer allowed without needing to sit out a season, requires agent registration with states and caps conference sizes to 20 schools — up from 19 thanks to the adoption of an amendment Monday night. The vote was 77-22.
John Kennedy ultimately voted in favor of the bill, but he did express some concerns on the Senate floor – specifically saying that it’s heavily tilted in favor of the schools.
“If you look at this bill from 35,000 feet, what it really does is exempt colleges and universities and the NCAA from the antitrust laws,” Kennedy noted.
Kennedy says an antitrust exemption puts undue limitations on student athletes’ potential earning ability.
“If we give the NCAA and we give the colleges and universities an exemption from the antitrust laws, it’s going to cap the amount that these athletes can make,” Kennedy explained.
Kennedy says imposing what would essentially be a salary cap on student athletes would be unfair, especially given the millions of dollars a year that some coaches make each year.
Kennedy says as originally drafted, the Protect College Sports Act left out one important group of people.
“The athletes win, the coaches win, the colleges and the universities win. What’s wrong with this picture? Who makes this all possible? The fans!” Kennedy exclaimed.
So Kennedy offered an amendment to cap ticket price hikes to 4% each year – an amendment that required 60 votes to be adopted. It failed to achieve even a simple majority, getting only 42 votes, so it was not adopted..
Like John Kennedy, Bill Cassidy was among the 77 senators who voted in favor of the bill. One of the provisions that resonates with him the most is the one that limits student-athletes to just one transfer without having to sit out a year.
Cassidy said he had a conversation with former LSU and Alabama head football coach Nick Saban about a student-athlete 30 credit hours shy of graduation transferring to another school.
“If he’d finished his senior year at Alabama, he would have graduated. He went to the next school; they wouldn’t accept 30 hours in transfer, so now he’s 60 hours behind but only has one year to get his degree,” Cassidy explained.
College-hopping has become more and more popular among student-athletes in recent years after the NCAA eliminated its one-time transfer rule. Cassidy says that’s going to be very counterproductive for the student-athlete in the long-term, especially since only one percent play sports professionally.
“Every time a student-athlete transfers, they become less likely, statistically, to graduate,” Cassidy noted.
Kennedy proposed an amendment that would have capped ticket price hikes to four percent. That amendment was defeated, and Cassidy was among the senators who voted “no” to sink it.
“I don’t think the Federal Government should be intervening in a private market in that way. If a ticket is too costly, people don’t go,” Cassidy said.
The Protect College Sports bill now heads to the House, where its future is uncertain.
The House is in recess until after the midterm election; so when it takes up the bill, time will be of the essence – it will need to get onto President Trump’s desk by January 3, or the process will need to start all over again from square one when the new Congress is sworn in.
