The bipartisan Senate bill aimed at reforming and saving college sports, got the most powerful endorsement it could get on Thursday: President Trump himself.
The president took to social media to endorse the Protect College Sports Act and praise its sponsors, Senator Ted Cruz (R, TX), Maria Cantwell (D, WA), and Chris Coons (D, DE).
“After unending lawsuits and crazed rulings, there are virtually no limits anymore, and soon most Colleges won’t have Sports because each and every one of them will be bankrupt, never to be heard from again,” he wrote. “Women’s Sports, and the Olympics, itself, are in the most danger from this catastrophic situation.
“College Sports are turning into Pro Sports, except with absolutely no rules, a result no one wants. University Presidents, Conference Commissioners, Student-Athletes, Coaches, and Athletic Directors all complained to me that it has become a disaster, after years of no action, and that Schools were losing Hundreds of Millions of Dollars a year,” the president added. “They compared it to a freight train that can’t be stopped!”
As Breitbart Sports reported Wednesday, “The SCORE Act appeared to be a potential remedy for this issue and others but ultimately failed in the U.S. House of Representatives. The latest glimmer of hope for reformers is the Protect College Sports Act, sponsored by Senator Ted Cruz (R, TX) and Senator Maria Cantwell (D, WA).
“The Protect College Sports Act takes a specific aim at several factors that have exacerbated issues in college sports. Notably, the “Lane Kiffin Rule” seeks to block coaches from leaving their teams before the season ends. The measure also limits the number of transfers athletes can make during their years of college eligibility.”
The Protect College Sports Act takes a specific aim at several factors that have exacerbated issues in college sports. Notably, the “Lane Kiffin Rule” seeks to block coaches from leaving their teams before the season ends. The measure also limits the number of transfers athletes can make during their years of college eligibility.
Cruz and Cantwell’s bill got another big endorsement on Wednesday from legendary college football coach Nick Saban, who told the Senate Commerce Committee that the name, image, and likeness (NIL) landscape had turned college sports into an “arms race” to the bottom.
“It’s become an arms race, who spends the most has got the best chance to win,” Saban said. “But I think it’s a race to the bottom because if you don’t spend to win, you lose your fan base and you don’t have any revenue.”
Saban went into great detail on the threat posed to college sports in an interview with Paul Finebaum last month.
“I really think that the concern is the health of college athletics, not just football,” Saban told Finebaum. “I think people look at football and basketball. But how about the 22 other sports we have that are really, probably, non-revenue sports that create lots of opportunities, actually trained 85% of our Olympians in the last Olympics? We’re the only country in the world that the university system and college athletics actually develop our athletes for the Olympics.
“So if we’re creating a situation where there’s not enough balance between the revenue sports and the non-revenue sports. Then, people are going to start dropping these sports, which you saw Arkansas drop tennis … the other day. That’s exactly what we don’t want to see.”
The two most powerful conferences in college sports – the SEC and the Big 10 – have already declared the bill unworkable, claiming it would not “meaningfully preempt the patchwork of state laws or provide the protections needed to make and enforce consistent rules.”
Despite that, President Trump sees the measure as perhaps the last, best hope for providing rules and structure to what has become an ungovernable and lawless college sports landscape.
“I urge the House and Senate to come together to pass a final Bipartisan Law, that I can sign this summer, that reflects the views and input of both Chambers,” the president wrote. “WE HAVE TO SAVE COLLEGE SPORTS!”