Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz isn’t pretending the Protect College Sports Act is a perfect fix. He doesn’t need it to be. What he wants is something college sports can actually work with, and on Sunday he said the bill at least gives the sport a clearer path forward.
Late Friday night, the SEC and Big Ten backed the legislation, also known as the Cruz-Cantwell Bill, giving a real boost to a proposal that has spent the past couple of months bouncing between hope and uncertainty. Drinkwitz made it clear he’s on board with that push.
"I know it's been back and forth, and there's been a lot of of politics being played," Drinkwitz said, "… and this bill, while not perfect, does provide some clarity and some roadmap for success in the future.
"I appreciate the very hard work that they have put in to try to create some sort of consensus and some sort of rules that will help move college athletics forward."
The bill is being framed as bipartisan legislation meant to bring more stability to college sports. Among the provisions reported by Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger are a limited antitrust exemption for the NCAA and conferences to bring back the one-time transfer exception, a standardized five-year eligibility policy, a ban on professional athletes returning to college, an agent registry with a maximum 5% fee, and a tighter cap on athlete revenue sharing.
The bill’s co-authors are Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.). Schmitt told Dellenger he expects a vote on the Senate floor sometime between Thursday and Saturday this week, and said the measure could pick up as many as 80 votes before moving to the House of Representatives.
Drinkwitz has already been public about where he stands. He said the same thing on The Jim Rome Show late last month, when the conversation turned to the SEC potentially breaking away from the rest of the NCAA. Instead of leaning into that possibility, he pointed to the Senate bill as the better route for both the SEC and the sport overall.
"I think the best way forward is to find common ground on this bill that's in the Senate," Drinkwitz told Rome. "I think the Cruz-Cantwell Bill, I think we've been working for a long time to try and find commonality."
He added: "My thing is, let's get with the Cruz-Cantwell Bill and figure out a way to get this bill through Congress. The ball is on the 10-yard line, and we're facing some tough run defense there, but let's figure out how to get this thing across the goal line."
The timing matters. Dellenger reported that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) would likely need to file for cloture by Monday to get the process moving toward a floor vote.
Even then, the Senate calendar is tight. Other issues could eat up the week, and if the bill doesn’t reach the floor now, the path gets much steeper.
Lawmakers leave for a monthlong recess on Aug. 6 and don’t return until Sept. 14, when the midterm elections are expected to dominate the agenda.
For Drinkwitz, though, the message Sunday was simple: there’s finally at least a glimmer of momentum.
"It has been a long and hard road that we have been fighting," Drinkwitz said Sunday, "and so for there to be some sort of light at the end of the tunnel, I sure appreciate their hard work in trying to help make that happen."
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