Pat Forde: Congress Is Coming for the SEC and Big Ten’s College Sports Empire

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has advanced the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) by a 19–9 vote, potentially setting up a full Senate vote. The legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell and Sen. Ted Cruz, seeks to address issues such as athlete transfers, compensation, and eligibility, aiming to apply constraints that could impact the dominant Big Ten and SEC conferences. The bill has emerged amid ongoing dissatisfaction with the financial and power disparities in college sports, notably following the SEC's and Big Ten's acquisitions of major teams like Texas, Oklahoma, USC, and UCLA. These moves have led to significant realignment shifts and have provoked backlash from other conferences and stakeholders.

Cantwell criticized the Big Ten and SEC commissioners for prioritizing financial gains over broader interests, particularly affecting schools like Washington State, which suffered following these realignment decisions. With the NCAA's reduced authority, the push for this legislation reflects a broader coalition of Division I schools seeking to