Wednesday was significant day for college sports as the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing for the Protect College Sports Act.
That hearing was publicly televised, but an equally important meeting Thursday was not.
Representatives of the Big Ten and SEC met with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) about the legislation designed to “save” college sports. Both conferences called the meeting a “positive conversation” but still do not support the bill as it is currently written.
After the meeting, the Big Ten and SEC released a joint statement about the meeting.
“We appreciated today’s productive conversation with Senator Ted Cruz regarding the Protect College Sports Act,” the statement read. “It is clear that we all share the same goal of stabilizing collegiate athletics for the long term. We praised positive elements of the bill, especially those that support student-athlete wellness and regulate agents. The SEC and the Big Ten have been consistent from day one: reform needs to happen, and we remain committed to working with our government partners towards lasting solutions.
“Our goal today was to make collaborative progress toward improving this bill. We presented concrete solutions to key unresolved challenges, including providing consistent national oversight, ensuring the ability to make and enforce rules, and guaranteeing that student-athletes can maximize revenue share and NIL. These changes are needed to achieve the bill’s objectives to bring long term stability to all of college athletics. We reiterated that we do not support this bill in its current form, but look forward to continued constructive dialogue with Senator Cruz and his team.”
After Thursday’s meeting with Sen. Ted Cruz about the Protect College Sports Act, the Big Ten and SEC have released a statement:
“We reiterated that we do not support this bill in its current form, but look forward to continued constructive dialogue with Senator Cruz and his… pic.twitter.com/HjKYYG3iTx
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) June 4, 2026
There’s no point rehashing why college sports doesn’t need saving, or at least why Congress shouldn’t be involved. Nor is there any point in rehashing Nick Saban’s comments about Ole Miss or pointing out Saban doesn’t have a great history of truth-telling (if he did, he wouldn’t have been at Alabama for over a decade).
What is worth pointing out is that the SEC and Big Ten met with one of the two main co-sponsors of the bill. It was a meeting behind closed doors so we don’t know what discussed, but its almost certain the points of the proposed legislation the two conferences don’t agree with were discussed.
And that’s important.
Who knows if the Protect College Sports Act will be passed by the Senate, let alone the House of Representatives. But the likelihood of the bill becoming law and bailing the NCAA out of a mess it created is slim to none if the two biggest, most powerful conferences aren’t supporting it.
Right or wrong, conferences gave the Big Ten and SEC that status by making the two responsible for deciding the next College Football Playoff format. So, if they don’t support the bill, there’s a good chance congressmen and women won’t support it either and the bill dies before ever reaching a vote.
If there are any changes made to the bill now, it’ll be important to note if the changes lead to the two most powerful conferences supporting the bill.
Because no matter what, the bill won’t pass without the Big Ten and SEC’s support.
