SEC Media Days dominates the headlines and news cycles the entire week.
Rightfully so given the four-day event generates must-see moments and lots of preseason buzz for the teams. But it also means that, sometimes, other headlines get overlooked or flat-out missed.
One headline many Ole Miss fans may have missed the day after Pete Golding stole the show in Tampa, Fla. was a report from ESPN’s Dan Murphy and Pete Thamel about the Protect College Sports Act.
According to the report, the bill isn’t “expected” to be voted on before August and the start of the next college football season.
“An expansive federal bill aimed at reshaping how college sports are governed is not expected to be put to a full vote in the U.S. Senate before Congress takes its August recess, a congressional source told ESPN on Thursday,” the report said.
Later, the report explained the source of this news.
“On Thursday, a reporter from Punchbowl News asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who decides if the bill will reach the Senate floor for a vote, for an update on the ‘NIL bill’ and another unrelated piece of legislation. Thune said, ‘I don’t think we’ll be able to get them done.’ A source confirmed to ESPN that Thune was referring to the Protect College Sports Act coming to a vote in August.”
The senate has a state work period upcoming from August 10 to September 11 and legislative work will be put on hold. That gives the senate roughly two weeks from now to get the bill to a point it can be voted on by the full senate.
That doesn’t appear like it’d be enough time for the senate to make the necessary changes to bring the SEC and Big Ten onboard. But deadlines spur action in every business, including the business of running the country (how government shutdowns have been avoided at the last minute?).
Appearing at SEC Media Days on Monday, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the conference is “engaged specifically now in ongoing dialogue around improving the Protect College Sports Act,” and he laid out the four principles the league wants addressed.
- Enforceable national standards.
- A truly national framework.
- Real transparency.
- Equal treatment for similar organizations.
Those aren’t small tweaks. They’re the foundation of what the SEC believes a national model should look like. And until Congress delivers something that fits that framework, the bill won’t have the SEC’s support. Without the SEC’s support (and the Big Ten’s), the bill wouldn’t survive a floor vote.
My opinion has always been that federal legislation is the wrong path for long term stability for everyone involved, including the players.
The best path still is the formation of a players’ union that can create a Collective Bargain Agreement to set rules and penalties for college sports.
But national leaders aren’t interested in doing that. It’s much easier to run to Congress and beg for a bailout of the mess they created.
