Senate Punts on College Sports Bill Vote Without Big Ten, SEC Approval

The Senate concluded its legislative session on Thursday without advancing to a vote on the college sports bill backed by the Trump administration. The major hurdles were the lack of approval from the Big Ten and SEC conferences, both of which strongly opposed the legislation throughout the past week. Majority Leader John Thune failed to file for cloture, the critical step in moving the bill forward for a vote next week.

Despite President Donald Trump's expressed desire for the bill to be finalized, the chances of it reaching a Senate floor vote before the summer recess appear slim. However, should the conferences come to terms over the weekend, Thune could potentially file for cloture on Monday and push the vote later in the week. With a history of collaboration between the NCAA and Power 4 conferences, the bill faced unexpected opposition from these two powerful groups.

While the NCAA, ACC, and Big 12 supported the bill, the Big Ten and SEC raised concerns over the restrictions on revenue-sharing, third-party NIL deals, and the bill's provisions related to antitrust protections and state law overrides. One of the main points of contention was the concern over allowing more athlete lawsuits, as well as their opposition to the "Title II" provision which would prevent the Big Ten and SEC from merging or expanding.

The negotiations between the conferences and senators intensified over the past week, with proposed amendments addressing issues such as athlete salary caps, NIL deals, tampering rules, and media rights pooling. However, the final point of contention remained the ability to fully prevent players from signing name, image, and likeness deals with "associated entities" to circumvent revenue-sharing caps.

The Senate adjourned without resolving these disagreements, bringing an end to the legislative session without the college sports bill getting a final vote.