The bipartisan Protect College Sports Act is one step closer to passing the U.S. Senate.
The Senate approved the bill by a 74-24 cloture vote, which ends a bill’s debate and moves it to a final vote.
Forty-nine Republicans voted for the bill, including Tennessee Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN). Twenty-four Democrats voted for the bill.
If the U.S. Senate passes the bill, it will go to the U.S. House for further deliberation.
The bill, cosponsored by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), seeks to create national rules around college athletic eligibility, name, image, and likeness, revenue sharing, antitrust, media rights, Title IX, and scholarships.
Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who is a former college football coach at the University of Auburn, voted against the bill. German-owned Politico reported he did not support the bill because “there’s too much government involvement in it.”
Senator Cory Booker, who played football at the University of Stanford, also voted against the bill, saying it “sells out athletes and bails out the NCAA.”
“If this bill becomes law, the same actors who exploited college athletes for decades will emerge with more power, and college athletes will emerge with less,” he noted.
After the vote, Cantwell said, “With the drag on higher education that athletic departments are causing, this discussion can’t happen soon enough. Women’s and Olympic sports need immediate shoring up.”
The Democratic senator released a report on Tuesday showing college athletic programs are in financial trouble. The report said the average debt among a Power Four college is $120.3 million. Twenty percent of these schools have over $219.6 million of debt.
If schools did not play in a Power Four conference, 87 percent required students to pay a mandatory fee to fund the athletic program, the report said, adding that nearly 50 percent of Power Four colleges do the same.
For example, students at James Madison University must pay a mandatory fee of $3,011 to support the school’s athletics, the report explained.
The report noted from 2005 to 2023, schools saw recruiting costs rise 322 percent, sports equipment costs rise almost 300 percent, travel costs rise over 200 percent, and medical and game-day expenses rise 250 percent.
As athletic departments have faced financial issues, the report noted that over 100 women’s and Olympic sports programs have been cut.
According to Cruz, the “bipartisan vote is a major step toward protecting student athletes, bringing order to college sports, and preserving the institution.”
“I’m confident the Senate will pass it with a big bipartisan vote, the House will pass it, and we’ll put it on the president’s desk,” he explained.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
