There's been a lot of talk lately in the media about this. I confess a large degree of ignorance about the contents, but my normal inclination is to be wary of anything that Ted Cruz supports. Here is an AI summary,:

The Protect College Sports Act (often referred to as the Save College Sports Act) is a bipartisan federal bill designed to stabilize collegiate athletics amid widespread legal challenges, shifting transfer rules, and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) compensation.

Key Provisions

• Uniform National Standard: Preempts the patchwork of individual state NIL laws to create a single federal rulebook.

• Antitrust Exemption: Grants a limited antitrust exemption to the NCAA and conferences so they can enforce rules regarding eligibility and transfers without constant lawsuits.

• Eligibility Limits: Sets a strict five-year window for athlete eligibility, starting the year a player turns 19 or finishes high school.

• Transfer Rules: Restricts athletes to a one-time transfer rule during their career without sitting out a season, subject to specific exceptions.

• Revenue and Support: Addresses revenue-sharing guidelines following the House antitrust settlement and sets up retention funds aimed at protecting women's and Olympic sports.

Can someone educate me on the pros and cons? Has CDC stated a position? Are there tweaks that might improve it? How would this affect Texas? The SEC?

This act has failed already by leaving off the following: Never allow a sitting president to attend another college football game in person. There is already be enough orange in Neyland stadium without adding the orange clown from Washington.

It won't be passed. Not really worth discussing.

Fuck the transfer restrictions. Players should be able to go make money wherever they want. Coaches can. If they want players to stick around they need figure out multi year contracts that benefit the players

• 
• Wu Tang is for the Children @WUTangKids

WOW had no idea Chris Simms had it in him like this 🔥….no lies detected

• 1:47 PM · Sep 19, 2026

https://surlyhorns.com/board/topic/51239-chris-mf-simms/#findComment-8086225

• 
• Daniel Libit @DanielLibit

NEWS: The @NCAA’s latest tax return shows it spent $63.5 million on legal fees in FY25, bringing 5-yr. spending to nearly $300 million.

(@WSTrialLaw got $19.6M!)

NCAA also spent $372.4M in FY25 legal settlements apart from House.

More for @Sportico 👇

• 5:01 PM · Jun 26, 2026

NCAA’s 5-Year Legal Spending Nears $300 Million

The association reported $63.5 million in legal fees last fiscal year, bringing its five-year spending on outside counsel to nearly $300 million.

sportico.com

Outside counsel? They might want to bring in a few lawyers in house if they are going to be spending that kind of money.

Anyway there is no chance this gets passed this year. I agree in principle that there probably should be regulations, not sure if these are the right ones.

51 minutes ago, UT_OB1 said:

Fuck the transfer restrictions. Players should be able to go make money wherever they want. Coaches can. If they want players to stick around they need figure out multi year contracts that benefit the players

Yeah I hate players moving around a lot but that’s their right. I hope things settle in and good players stick around multiple years.

There's a real simple way to keep players in the same system for a few years:

Make them employees who have enforceable contracts, like the NFL.

I don't care for laws restricting athletes ability to earn a living with their talents. NCAA is the only path to the NFL - allow athletes to go straight to the NFL without college, then you can restrict NCAA however you want. Obviously, that would have a huge detrimental effect on the NCAA, so pay them their worth while in college. I also don't have a problem with college locking athletes in with contracts.

1 minute ago, Jerry Callo said:

allow athletes to go straight to the NFL without college

The NFL doesn’t want that. They like using college as their development league. Let someone pay to make them stronger, smarter and better conditioned

On 9/24/2026 at 7:08 PM, Yuk said:

It won't be passed. Not really worth discussing.

It's not a left-right statement to say congress doesn't really pass laws anymore. They can barely cobble together an agreement to keep the government open even when one side has majorities. This is just PR by the NCAA, conferences and sadly ESPN, taking advantage of the millions of CFB fans who pay little or no attention to the US government

Matthew McConaughey needs to fire whatever PR firm he uses for being the spokesman of this horseshit. Cruz we can write off. McConaughey is too tied into our brand to be endorsing this shit.

The only good part was capping conferences at 19. I’d put up with the rest of it just for that.

1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said:

There's a real simple way to keep players in the same system for a few years:

Make them employees who have enforceable contracts, like the NFL.

This. The only real way to stop this shit show, or at least reign it in, is to go full on CBA like the pro leagues have.

• 
• Luke Bogus @lukebogus

Saban on Gameday at 10:50a: “Protect College Sports! Thank you Trump for saving college sports!”

Saban at 11:50a: “If I were still coaching? I’d do whatever it takes to convince [MSU QB Kamario Taylor] to get in the Portal”

Yup, that about sums it up 👍

• 4:00 PM · Sep 26, 2026

Tthis is not going to pass the House as is and they’re going to poison pill it for the Senate to pass it again

At least this activity is a distraction from fucking up something that actually matters and isn't broken already.

Next maybe they can legislate some mattress tag protections or standardize leaf blowers or some shit.

On 9/26/2026 at 10:08 AM, BigHorn'13 said:

Matthew McConaughey needs to fire whatever PR firm he uses for being the spokesman of this horseshit. Cruz we can write off. McConaughey is too tied into our brand to be endorsing this shit.

On 9/26/2026 at 11:23 AM, Al_4_ISU said:

The only good part was capping conferences at 19. I’d put up with the rest of it just for that.

There's no reason for the federal government to do this, or be involved in eligibility, transfers, or mandate private funds to pay for non-revenue sports.

Just pass an anti-trust exemption and some sort of uniform standard to bring the state laws together. It can be that easy. Just fix the legal framework.

On 9/24/2026 at 6:23 PM, UT_OB1 said:

Fuck the transfer restrictions. Players should be able to go make money wherever they want. Coaches can. If they want players to stick around they need figure out multi year contracts that benefit the players

This. I will never get behind any restrictions on players that aren't also applied to coaches. It's rank hypocrisy.

Senator Cantwell got bent because the Pac 12 imploded so she coped by tossing Ted Cruz' salad. It's really just the the Protect Cruz' Sphincter Act.

Edited Friday at 01:57 PM3 days by NWAustinDude

The only qualifier I'd like to see is 24 hours of course credit achieved in a given academic year, and then you can transfer all you want.

I know that will never fly, but I'd still appreciate the lip service, if not work completed, towards an education.

1 minute ago, NWAustinDude said:

Senator Cantwell got bent because the Pac 12 imploded so she coped by tossing Ted Cruz' salad. It's really just the the Protect Cruz' Sphincter Act.

The NCAA and colleges screwed athletes for too long because they could. They then lost control due to hubris and greed.

Now courts have finally recognized the illegal behavior of the NCAA and this program. The next step is that the NCAA/admins/coaches need Congress' help to force the power back firmly in their hands. Yes, they begrudgingly realize they can't turn the clock back so they toss in a few things for athletes but cap those benefits. Imagine if other industries ran to the govt for this type of protection from their own workers.

I agree that the Act isn't completely unfair to athletes. For instance I'm happy that the salary caps are tied to inflation #s, which is something the govt rarely allows.

As an aside I recall the old NCAA commercials that highlight how 98% of "student" athletes go professional in something other than sports. That tells you that these athletes should be allowed to earn what they can based on supply/deamnd. Going to work for Enterprise Rent a Car isn't going to pay much.

Edited Friday at 02:57 PM3 days by Nice Guy Eddie

1 minute ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

As an aside I recall the old NCAA commercials that highlight how 98% of "student" athletes go professional in something other than sports

Uploading Attachment...

1,2

1 hour ago, JBJ said:

There's no reason for the federal government to do this, or be involved in eligibility, transfers, or mandate private funds to pay for non-revenue sports.

Just pass an anti-trust exemption and some sort of uniform standard to bring the state laws together. It can be that easy. Just fix the legal framework.

Have to put the "student ath-o-letes" back in their shackles

There’s no organization of the players but it would be interesting if players made noise that they weren’t going to play one Saturday. They’re not the ones with a contract with espn or fox. They don’t have to worry about chargebacks or lack of payments if games don’t occur one Saturday.

It's important to consider outcomes here. Should this bill pass, who gets the power? Who makes the rules? Who gets protected? And then ask yourselves, how is this would be different from what existed before NIL?

It has some good ideas, but it’s a wage suppression act for players without being wage suppression act for coaches. If they want to pretend it’s to save money for schools, then fine. Do it across the board. Otherwise it’s just another bill to allow unregulated wealth for the “right” people while limiting access to wealth for the “wrong” people.

On 9/24/2026 at 5:49 PM, Horndog said:

• Transfer Rules: Restricts athletes to a one-time transfer rule during their career without sitting out a season, subject to specific exceptions.

While I hate players transferring frequently, best of luck surviving the SCOTUS with that one.

If there's a principle that proponents genuinely believe, demonstrate it.

If your principle is true for players, but not for coaches, it's not a principle.

Uploading Attachment...

Edited Saturday at 04:03 AM3 days by F250

On 9/24/2026 at 5:49 PM, Horndog said:

There's been a lot of talk lately in the media about this. I confess a large degree of ignorance about the contents, but my normal inclination is to be wary of anything that Ted Cruz supports. Here is an AI summary,:

The Protect College Sports Act (often referred to as the Save College Sports Act) is a bipartisan federal bill designed to stabilize collegiate athletics amid widespread legal challenges, shifting transfer rules, and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) compensation.

Key Provisions

• Uniform National Standard: Preempts the patchwork of individual state NIL laws to create a single federal rulebook.

• Antitrust Exemption: Grants a limited antitrust exemption to the NCAA and conferences so they can enforce rules regarding eligibility and transfers without constant lawsuits.

• Eligibility Limits: Sets a strict five-year window for athlete eligibility, starting the year a player turns 19 or finishes high school.

• Transfer Rules: Restricts athletes to a one-time transfer rule during their career without sitting out a season, subject to specific exceptions.

• Revenue and Support: Addresses revenue-sharing guidelines following the House antitrust settlement and sets up retention funds aimed at protecting women's and Olympic sports.

Can someone educate me on the pros and cons? Has CDC stated a position? Are there tweaks that might improve it? How would this affect Texas? The SEC?

What happened to the provision that caps coaches salaries at 5 million a year?

15 hours ago, HenryJames said:

1,2

1,x

3 hours ago, Satchel said:

What happened to the provision that caps coaches salaries at 5 million a year?

If Cody Campbell supports something this hard, it’s probably a bad idea.

The thing to remember about politicians - and I'm not breaking any new ground here, but it's still something important to keep in mind - is that they're institutionally incapable of passing a clean bill that simply addresses the problem.

Let's take the most fundamental issues of revenue generation. There's something to be said for a clean taxation code that's easy to follow, no deductions. I don't what it would look like or how much it would be. I understand the idea of regressive tax systems and the concept it's unfair for someone at the poverty line to pay the same percentage as the wealthiest person in the country. But the way it gets implemented the richest don't necessarily pay what a clean minimum amount would ask from them anyway. The point is the cleanest system in the world can't get passed, or if it is it will quickly get amended, because campaigns are funded in terms of manpower and motivated staff people - paid and otherwise - by the most interested parties, who are looking for politicians to perform in ways that are favorable to them.

Well, the same way with college sports. It was said above that the best thing for Congress to do in some ways is to simply pass some antitrust exemptions, codify the state rules around NIL so that everyone is playing by the same rules passed by federal law, and pretty much leave it at that. But that's not institutionally feasible. The nice thing is that the founding fathers purposefully made passing new laws a difficult process, so the chances of this legislation passing don't look so great.

Also, I'm still of the opinion that while Texas is in great shape in the current state of sports, the rest of the country is not so hot. I read an article recently that NIL valuations for basketball players year over year went up by 60%, and 73% among power 4 players. The methodology used by Front Office Suites was a bit flawed, but it was better than On3's bullshit NIL valuations. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if those marks were close to reality. Without something that curbs player compensation we'll continue to see rapid rises in valuations among both men's basketball and football, and it's certainly going to trickle down to other sports as well. These values are most often set by a wild rogue creating valuations that are far beyond the current market value, and then everyone else has to respond in some way. If there are a limited number of parties at some point they can form a cabal and punish rogue agents in different ways while holding the line on increased spending, but college sports will find that difficult because of the sheer number of entities involved, and how little financial sense is involved in the final decisions on these things. Almost all the return on investment is emotional fulfillment on one level or another, and it's hard to put a price tag cap on that.

So while I believe repressed wages are unfair, I also believe a mechanism that doesn't repress wages in some way - with a robust enforcement mechanism attached if there is a cap on compensation - is going to continue to inevitably lead us to a tulip mania failure. What that entails I have no idea, but there is a point at which competitive wages are so high that schools have to give up the concept of being able to be competitive. Maybe that's not a bad thing. I don't know. Certainly when schools like Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State were abusing the bag game pre NIL it wasn't exactly an even landscape.

I guess my feeling is we need some form of federal legislation eventually, but whenever we do get it, we're not going to like it, because the federal government in the best of circumstances will inherently find ways to fuck it up. And these are not the best of circumstances.

I still believe one of the simplest things they could address is to pass a law that all NIL contracts have to be made publicly available. Again, with a robust enforcement arm with the tools to enforce it. I still don't think that's fair. I don't believe college players should have to publish their NIL earnings in an ideal system. But that would at least make information non proprietary so everyone could have a much better handle on what we're dealing with.

21 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

The NCAA and colleges screwed athletes for too long because they could. They then lost control due to hubris and greed.

Now courts have finally recognized the illegal behavior of the NCAA and this program. The next step is that the NCAA/admins/coaches need Congress' help to force the power back firmly in their hands. Yes, they begrudgingly realize they can't turn the clock back so they toss in a few things for athletes but cap those benefits. Imagine if other industries ran to the govt for this type of protection from their own workers.

I agree that the Act isn't completely unfair to athletes. For instance I'm happy that the salary caps are tied to inflation #s, which is something the govt rarely allows.

As an aside I recall the old NCAA commercials that highlight how 98% of "student" athletes go professional in something other than sports. That tells you that these athletes should be allowed to earn what they can based on supply/deamnd. Going to work for Enterprise Rent a Car isn't going to pay much.

Agree with EVERYTHING you posted, and factually don't disagree with the bolded part. However, should the athlete earn a degree and they end up working the counter at Enterprise, as opposed to managing a site or area overall, that's on the fucking individual.

Needs to include salary caps on coaching and admin staffs.

37 minutes ago, Iceman said:

Agree with EVERYTHING you posted, and factually don't disagree with the bolded part. However, should the athlete earn a degree and they end up working the counter at Enterprise, as opposed to managing a site or area overall, that's on the fucking individual.

Agree 100%. Enterprise has an excellent corporate structure and they give you the tools to be successful.

1 hour ago, SL Xpress said:

The thing to remember about politicians - and I'm not breaking any new ground here, but it's still something important to keep in mind - is that they're institutionally incapable of passing a clean bill that simply addresses the problem.

Let's take the most fundamental issues of revenue generation. There's something to be said for a clean taxation code that's easy to follow, no deductions. I don't what it would look like or how much it would be. I understand the idea of regressive tax systems and the concept it's unfair for someone at the poverty line to pay the same percentage as the wealthiest person in the country. But the way it gets implemented the richest don't necessarily pay what a clean minimum amount would ask from them anyway. The point is the cleanest system in the world can't get passed, or if it is it will quickly get amended, because campaigns are funded in terms of manpower and motivated staff people - paid and otherwise - by the most interested parties, who are looking for politicians to perform in ways that are favorable to them.

Well, the same way with college sports. It was said above that the best thing for Congress to do in some ways is to simply pass some antitrust exemptions, codify the state rules around NIL so that everyone is playing by the same rules passed by federal law, and pretty much leave it at that. But that's not institutionally feasible. The nice thing is that the founding fathers purposefully made passing new laws a difficult process, so the chances of this legislation passing don't look so great.

Also, I'm still of the opinion that while Texas is in great shape in the current state of sports, the rest of the country is not so hot. I read an article recently that NIL valuations for basketball players year over year went up by 60%, and 73% among power 4 players. The methodology used by Front Office Suites was a bit flawed, but it was better than On3's bullshit NIL valuations. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if those marks were close to reality. Without something that curbs player compensation we'll continue to see rapid rises in valuations among both men's basketball and football, and it's certainly going to trickle down to other sports as well. These values are most often set by a wild rogue creating valuations that are far beyond the current market value, and then everyone else has to respond in some way. If there are a limited number of parties at some point they can form a cabal and punish rogue agents in different ways while holding the line on increased spending, but college sports will find that difficult because of the sheer number of entities involved, and how little financial sense is involved in the final decisions on these things. Almost all the return on investment is emotional fulfillment on one level or another, and it's hard to put a price tag cap on that.

So while I believe repressed wages are unfair, I also believe a mechanism that doesn't repress wages in some way - with a robust enforcement mechanism attached if there is a cap on compensation - is going to continue to inevitably lead us to a tulip mania failure. What that entails I have no idea, but there is a point at which competitive wages are so high that schools have to give up the concept of being able to be competitive. Maybe that's not a bad thing. I don't know. Certainly when schools like Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State were abusing the bag game pre NIL it wasn't exactly an even landscape.

I guess my feeling is we need some form of federal legislation eventually, but whenever we do get it, we're not going to like it, because the federal government in the best of circumstances will inherently find ways to fuck it up. And these are not the best of circumstances.

I still believe one of the simplest things they could address is to pass a law that all NIL contracts have to be made publicly available. Again, with a robust enforcement arm with the tools to enforce it. I still don't think that's fair. I don't believe college players should have to publish their NIL earnings in an ideal system. But that would at least make information non proprietary so everyone could have a much better handle on what we're dealing with.

Solid post, but I disagree that there's any reason to have a cap on players - especially one from the federal govt. That means we likely don't have 140+ institutions in the same subdivision of football and 350+ in basketball, but we really only have that in name for the past few decades, and it's just not a necessary thing.

A cap just makes cheaters. Always has at the college level. It's just irresistible.

Edited Saturday at 02:20 PM2 days by Iceman

9 minutes ago, Iceman said:

A cap just makes cheaters. Always has at the college level. It's just irresistible.

Espns lack of coverage against the bill is striking. I believe Stephen a Smith has spoken against it but not much else. I read the current article with the sub-title that it would separate the truth from the myths. Then it proceeded to be a roughly 95% to 5% in favor vs. against the bill.

And honestly they don’t say that lack of player input is a 5% negative. Thats my view. They may see that as a positive.

If espn, Saban and mcafee and crew are for it, I have to take that as a strong reason to be opposed.

1 minute ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Espns lack of coverage against the bill is striking. I believe Stephen a Smith has spoken against it but not much else. I read the current article with the sub-title that it would separate the truth from the myths. Then it proceeded to be a roughly 95% to 5% in favor vs. against the bill.

And honestly they don’t say that lack of player input is a 5% negative. Thats my view. They may see that as a positive.

If espn, Saban and mcafee and crew are for it, I have to take that as a strong reason to be opposed.

Saban, MacAfee, Campbell, Cruz

I can’t think of a worse group of people in support of something

Shit law. And here is why:

On 9/26/2026 at 10:37 AM, Al_4_ISU said:

There's a real simple way to keep players in the same system for a few years:

Make them employees who have enforceable contracts, like the NFL.

What this bill explicitly does is codify that they are not employees of the schools. In doing so they are restricted from unionizing or collective bargaining. Thus it removes all power from the student athletes. Furthermore, in granting the NCAA Antitrust exemption, players would have no avenue to challenge any of these changes.

Fuck this law it basically returns college athletics back to where we were just a few years back when players had no power. Sure they can get some money, but they lose so much more.

I don't care for laws restricting athletes ability to earn a living with their talents. NCAA is the only path to the NFL - allow athletes to go straight to the NFL without college, then you can restrict NCAA however you want. Obviously, that would have a huge detrimental effect on the NCAA, so pay them their worth while in college. I also don't have a problem with college locking athletes in with contracts.

The NFL would have to create a farm system similar to the MLB if they want players right out of highschool, but I'd guess most if not all NFL owners would rather keep the CFB system as it is.

That said, unlike minor league baseball, NFL farm teams playing during the NFL off-season might be profitable for tv networks? I know I would probably watch what would essentially be (ex) high school all star squads based in smaller cities.