Notre Dame’s stance helped push the Protect College Sports Act back into play Friday, as the Big Ten officially signed off on revised language and the SEC scrambled to do the same in a last-ditch effort to keep the bill alive before Congress leaves for its August recess.
For much of Big Ten Media Days, the coaches and the league’s usual talking points were getting drowned out by the race to get the legislation across the finish line. By Friday evening, it looked like the effort might fall short.
Then the Big Ten presidents and athletic directors voted to support the new version, a move that came after the conference and the bill’s introducers worked through revisions this week. Notre Dame had already said it backed the updated language and had told the ACC the same thing, both as a member in some sports and as a football partner through its agreement.
With the Big Ten no longer standing in the way, the pressure shifted squarely to the SEC, which was trying to hold the same kind of vote. League executives had already moved quickly, scheduling meetings with presidents and chancellors in a striking 11th-hour push after the talks had seemed to collapse into bitter back-and-forth from Washington.
The SEC held a call Friday morning to go over the latest changes, then followed that with an evening meeting aimed at getting enough support to let the legislation advance to the floor of the US Senate.
Notre Dame’s objections had centered on a section that limited how and when the Irish could join a conference if they ever wanted to. The revised language addressed that concern by allowing Notre Dame to join a conference immediately, if that ever became necessary, since the school is already independent.
Another part of the updated bill says any team looking to change conferences would have to be independent for five years, though that no longer applies to Notre Dame under the new wording.
Ross Dellenger reported that the key revision came in language meant to tighten a rule preventing schools from getting around the athlete revenue-share cap. According to the language shared with Yahoo Sports, school-affiliated sponsors and apparel brands would have to go through an attestation process to certify that their NIL deals are legitimate, not directed by the school, and not funded by the school itself. The bill already includes similar language for NIL arrangements involving multimedia rights partners such as Learfield and Playfly.
Even with the Big Ten on board and the SEC potentially following, the Protect College Sports Act still faces a steep climb in Congress. There has been significant opposition to the bill, and it would need 60 votes in the Senate just to move forward to the House.
If it does clear that hurdle and become law, the impact on college football would be enormous. Notre Dame and the power conferences would be the biggest winners, but it remains unclear whether legislation short of making players employees would actually stop the lawsuits that have fueled so much of the recent chaos.
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