The Big Ten is drawing a financial line in the sand before the federal government does it for them.
On Wednesday, the conference announced a $49 million NIL spending cap for all member schools, effective immediately. The move is built to track with the Protect College Sports Act, the bill still waiting on a House vote, and it gives Big Ten programs a clearer budget target even as the legislation remains in limbo.
That $49 million figure is split into two pieces. One is the $21.6 million revenue-sharing cap established by the House settlement. The other is a $27.5 million limit on third-party NIL spending, including collectives.
"While we await the passage of the Protect College Sports Act, which has our full support, it is imperative our member institutions can begin to plan, budget and build their rosters approximating the act's economic structure," the Big Ten council of chancellors said in a statement. "Our institutions remain in full support of the Protect College Sports Act and this rule not only allows for a much smoother transition into the policies put in place by the act once it passes, but demonstrates our commitment to it."
If the Protect College Sports Act eventually becomes law, schools would be allowed to spend about $50 million on athlete payments, though the structure would be more layered. The House settlement money would stay in place, but athletic departments could also tap a retention fund worth as much as $22.5 million to help keep players from leaving through the transfer portal. Another $5 million would be set aside specifically for women’s and Olympic sports.
For now, the Big Ten is giving its schools a framework to work from as they look ahead to 2027 and beyond.
The conference’s new number also lands in a very real spending landscape. According to CBS Sports, Oregon and Ohio State are already spending more than $40 million on football alone this year, while Michigan and USC are close behind and nearing that same mark.
The legislation the Big Ten is modeling itself after still has a long way to go. The House of Representatives is on recess through the midterm elections on Tuesday and is set to return on Nov.
- A vote could come after that, but the bill’s path gets trickier in a lame-duck session, and the real cutoff is Jan. 3, when a new Congress is sworn in.
If the bill is still not law by then, it resets.
"I'm not sure what the fight is going to be like in lame duck as they try to push this over the edge, especially if the House switches from Republican to Democrat," Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), an opponent of the bill, told CBS Sports. "Democrats should have a chance to really author a bill that corrects for a lot of the failings in this bill."
There are still other obstacles besides the calendar. Some Republicans want the bill to bar athletes from being classified as employees, while others are pushing for a hard limit on international athletes in college sports.
If lawmakers alter the bill at this stage, it would have to go back to the Senate for another vote, which would make an already difficult route even steeper.
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