Are you ready for the next battle in college sports? With Brendan Sorsby officially leaving Texas Tech for the NFL, the spotlight now shifts back from Lone Star State courtrooms to Washington, D.C., where lawmakers are debating the future of college athletics.When Sens Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) introduced the bipartisan “Protect College Sports Act” earlier this month, the overwhelming thought process centered around the federal government finally presenting legislation that would satisfy both sides of the aisle, along with those within college athletics.After threats, lawsuits and chaos, Brendan Sorsby and Texas Tech going their separate waysBut, as we’ve seen over the last few weeks, there is plenty of pushback, or finagling going on that has leaders of the SEC and Big Ten jockeying for position.Would the congressional leaders give in to the ideas presented by both conferences that would eventually lead to their support? Or, would Cruz and Cantwell push forward with their legislation without leaders from both power-conferences essentially putting their support behind the bill?That question was answered on Monday night, when a revised bill was obtained by Fox News, as there was not much of a pivot to the “Protect College Sports Act” that would lead those to believe that the recommendations from the SEC and Big Ten were fully integrated into the new plan.Entering the “markup” phase of the bill, which will take place starting Tuesday night, there was no deviation from the media pooling rights aspect of the legislation.The revised version of the bill will still allow football teams at the FBS level to voluntarily pool their media rights into one large package, if 75% of the teams come to an agreement on the action.Ted Cruz, Maria Cantwell unveil bipartisan college athletics bill amid NIL chaos, lawsuits, “Lane Kiffin Rule”This leaves the SEC and Big Ten still holding serve on the matter, with Commissioner Greg Sankey mentioning in a letter to the presidents and chancellors last week that this could still lead to battles within courtrooms.”The media pooling, as written, exposes the SEC to potential lawsuits forcing the conference into the media pooling practice…It forces the SEC and Big Ten to either play intraconference postseason tournaments or play only other non-pooling conferences or universities in the postseason to replace the CFP (College Football Playoff)”Yes, this is a holdup for both conferences to get behind this aspect of the bill, even though it would not be the wisest move for either to break off and form their own postseason, at least in the eyes of fans.Then, there was also the point of contention around the “private right to action” aspect of the legislation, which would allow athletes to take their own schools to court over rules that would be actionable within the bill. And for that part, the legislation does not have a revision for the section in which the SEC emphasized is too broad, allowing the opp
Cruz and Cantwell refuse to bend to SEC and Big Ten concerns in revised college athletics legislation
