Senate delays college sports bill

AP:

The Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) failed to reach a vote during an all-night Senate session before the chamber’s summer recess, which ended early yesterday. However, the bill secured a place on next month’s calendar when senators return.

The measure has been touted as a way to place guardrails around escalating spending in college sports as the industry struggles to adapt to a new model in which teams can pay players.

“College sports is something that needs to be fixed, they have a good solution,” said Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “We got it teed up for next month.”

The bill has been on a roller coaster since it was introduced in late May, initially failing to gain the support of the two biggest conferences, the Big Ten and SEC.

Those conferences signed on late last month after a flurry of negotiations, rescuing the measure from near collapse. But, as quickly as it was revived, it ran into resistance in the Senate where lawmakers from SEC states, including Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville and Missouri Republican Josh Hawley, were among its biggest skeptics.

Then, as the bill moved closer to a vote, the Congressional Black Caucus and the AFL-CIO also came out against it. Amendments dealing with issues that were never part of the legislation also began surfacing.

All of that, combined with a packed legislative agenda that included a short-term funding bill and the narrow confirmation of Todd Blanche as attorney general, pushed the PCSA down the Senate’s priority list.

Bill co-sponsor, Texas Republican Ted Cruz, said “my colleagues and I have worked hard to end the chaos” surrounding college sports and predicted the bill would receive the support of 60 or more senators, keeping it on track to become law.

Washington Democrat and co-sponsor Senator Maria Cantwell said she was grateful that Thune placed it on the calendar.

“This bipartisan bill is how we protect women’s and Olympic sports,” she said. “I look forward to its passage in September.”

If it passes the Senate, the bill is still expected to face a steep climb in the House of Representatives, which is more narrowly divided and repeatedly failed in its attempts to bring the less athlete-friendly SCORE Act to a vote.

A RETHINKING OF THIRD-PARTY NIL

Among the bill’s key features is a redefinition of third-party Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals, the sponsorship arrangements many blame for spiralling costs. Under current rules, schools can share up to US$21.3 million in revenue among athletes across their programmes.

However, there is no cap on additional earnings through third-party deals, which are often brokered through multimedia rights companies known as associated entities. These companies sell a school’s promotional assets and direct some of that revenue to players in exchange for their NIL rights.

The legislation would shift some of those arrangements under a newly expanded revenue-sharing model of up to US$48.8 million, while still allowing “organic” third-party deals that are not tied to an existing arrangement with a school.

A good example is Caitlin Clark’s sponsorship agreement with State Farm. She secured that deal because she was Caitlin Clark, not because she played for Iowa, which does not have a partnership with State Farm.

Sports leaders hope the new “retention pool” will help curb runaway costs. Multimedia rights groups, however, are not convinced.

“It’s going to continue to grow,” Christy Hedgpeth, president of Playfly Sports Properties, said in an interview this week with The Associated Press.

“We have a lot of data that proves that they don’t have to be nationally recognisable. On an average roster, you’re going to have far more than 20 (players) who are going to have several NIL deals.”