Protect College Sports Act

“But compensation on revenue sharing is probably the most important thing we could possibly enshrine in federal law today. This is [Congress] saying, for the first time, that an athlete gets a percentage of the media rights, the ticket sales and the sponsorship.”

“This is a bill not about college athletes. This is a bill about wealthy people. Wealthy coaches, wealthy institutions, and an NCAA who's enjoyed unbridled power for decades as we watch discrimination, hardships, injustice, and, finally, athletes started getting some power in the equation.”

“It would be nice if college sports could somehow magically fix itself, but this is a matter of law, federal law, and only Congress can fix it.”

“Now the bill moves to the U.S. House of Representatives and there is much work left to do to ensure student-athlete benefits are codified into federal law and future generations of young people can access those benefits and use college sports as the launching point for their careers.”

“I think the bill is necessary, and it's not a perfect bill. I don't think we'd ever be able to come up with a perfect bill.”

“What this bill does, at its core, is protect a system of exploitation. This bill protects the billions of dollars that coaches and executives are making by suppressing compensation for some of the most highly valued athletes in the world.”

“Instead, it shields powerful institutions from accountability while asking Black athletes to surrender their rights, their leverage, and their voice.”

“This bill is clearly not ready for a vote. Congress should stop rushing it and fully vet these problems before asking members to vote.”

“The PCSA protects schools, not athletes. It rolls back athletes' hard-earned rights while protecting the financial interests of the NCAA, its member conferences, universities and coaches.”

“This is a bill being made without athletes' input, and it reads like that. It reads like all the restrictions laid out in the bill are almost exclusively put on athletes and not on coaches and administrators.”

“Do not give the institutions permanent legal protection without having independent athlete representation.”

“Do not create a federal system that protects institutions better than it protects student-athletes.”

“President Trump is right: college sports are at a breaking point, and Congress needs to act.”

“Because if you want to have a national championship, there's a whole bunch of things where you need to have a national rule.”

“So, there's probably some things in it you like, some things you don't like — that's usually the case when you have compromise in agreement. But I think all coaches – I mean, we don't really have any rules right now. We just don't. There's no rules. So, hopefully something good will come out of it.”

“I think if you can get 80% of it right, we've landed in a great spot. And our goal is hopefully for the House to take it as is. Obviously, that'll require some work and conversation, but that's the scenario we're hoping for.”

“The bill has already outperformed. I think if you'd have said back in the summer, it could get the support that it got and [be] bipartisan, a tribute to Senators Cruz, [Maria] Cantwell and [Eric] Schmitt for the work they did. … It's already done better. So I'm just going to continue to be optimistic that members of the House will listen to the groups that are involved and take guidance.”

“The bill isn't going to stop every possible thing. That's not what it's intended to do. In areas like eligibility, transfer, legislating litigation around NIL, states trying to come over the top of the system, and the settlement, this will clean all that up, and so that's really critical.”

“There's a couple things that aren't universally accepted, but I think that—and this is just me—but 80% of it is good. And if you get a bill from Congress, Congress is great. But an 80% where people agree to it? That's pretty awesome.”

“Clemson has consistently supported the PCSA while advocating for a narrowly tailored provision addressing conference composition. This critical flexibility would strengthen the legislation without undermining its core objectives. Clemson is not seeking to delay or derail the PCSA. We are working to ensure the final legislation protects the ability of institutions to adapt, compete and succeed at all levels.”

“Supporting the bill and seeking to improve it are not in conflict. Congress can protect college sports without litigating conference composition, and we look forward to working with the House to get this legislation enacted.”

“I think it had to get to the point where it became bad enough in college athletics that Congress finally decided that the NCAA was not going to be able to fix this. This is a problem that is just going to continue to get worse unless Congress steps in.”

“We have 14 schools that feel really good about it that want to sign it, and we have four schools that have an issue with a portion of it. So that's what I'm going to continue to push towards the decision makers and those that have written the bill to date.”

“First of all, I think the biggest thing is, we need some type of rules. We have none. We don't have any rules. And whatever rules we do have, they can't be enforced.”

“strong antitrust protections for schools to be able to govern themselves, so that courts don't overrule the decisions made by the schools, and you have people playing in their fifth and sixth and seventh year at their fourth school. And they're not getting an education because they're not even getting transferable credits. I mean, nobody wants that. We can fix it, and we're going to.”

“Schools in the ACC, principally Florida State, Miami, who want to blow up the ACC, the problem with that is that they have nowhere to go. I've talked to the Big Ten yesterday, and the SEC. And they have no plans to expand.”

“When I was governor, I signed hundreds of bills. I never signed a bill that was perfect. There's always stuff in there you don't like, OK? That's called democracy. I think this thing is much better for college sports than not.”

“Like, does academics matter or not? If it does, then the fact that we've got people transferring six times during a college career is unacceptable.”

“I think the notion of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for combined media rights in this environment is a nice story to tell, but it's really about control.”

“A player can do everything right and still be victimized two or three times by one coaching decision: losing his roster spot, being forced to burn his one penalty-free transfer, and, if he has already transferred once, potentially losing a year of eligibility just trying to find somewhere else to play. Meanwhile, the coach faces no restriction on how many players he can run off or how many transfers he can bring in to replace them.”

“Nobody wants to have them as an employee. I don't know how a guy gets paid that much money, and he's not an employee, right? Then if you're an employee, you could probably have a collective bargaining thing.”

“I'm hoping it passes the House, and then you'll get some sense of structure. If it doesn't pass the House and it goes on, I'm telling y'all it's a mess.”

“Over the next few weeks, your continued advocacy is essential to keep up the momentum. The message is clear: Pass the PCSA as drafted as soon as possible. Amending the bill at this point would almost certainly make it impossible to get it to the President's desk this Congress.”

“Government has shirked its real duties — deciding issues of national importance — to focus on something it knows nothing about.”

“There is no cap on the amount of NIL deals. We would not agree to change that. That would be trying to restrict competition.”

“That's not necessarily breaking away, that doesn't mean you're not going to play anybody else. But is there a path to have rules that we can at least operate from the conference?”

“I think the notion that we would simply rush to say we support is not the appropriate position.”

“Congress does need to fix the mess in the courts and create a national framework so the people inside college sports can enforce fair rules.”

“Free agency with a collective, now you're talking about bidding war for players.”

“When the system becomes whoever raises the most money gets the best players, then we are no longer talking about college athletics as millions of fans and I have known it.”

“We agree today that college athletics are in crisis, and we agree that the system is broken and unsustainable”

“The window for meaningful reform is short and the cost of inaction is real.”

“I have experienced the impact of NIL, the transfer portal, conference realignment, evolving eligibility rules, and the many changes shaping modern college athletics.”