WASHINGTON — The Senate punted consideration of a sweeping college sports bill until September, leaving Alabama’s U.S. Sens. Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt in limbo over the legislation.
The Protect College Sports Act gained momentum in recent weeks, with intense negotiations earning the support of the wealthiest conferences, the SEC and Big Ten, after the pair had been previously opposed to the bipartisan bill.
The legislation would reshape the rules governing college sports by establishing a national framework for student-athlete compensation, limiting transfers and restricting coaches from switching jobs during a season. It also would create limited antitrust protections for the NCAA.
Revisions that helped win over the SEC and Big Ten include a strict revenue share cap, clarifying voluntary media rights participation, and closing the private equity loophole for the formation of super leagues.
But stark disagreements remain, and throughout the Senate’s five-week recess, scrutiny of the bill could grow.
Even a last-minute push by President Donald Trump last week, in which he emphasized his support for the college sports bill, was not enough for the Senate to take a vote before leaving town.
“Without this Bill, millions of young Athletes will be hurt, programs will be canceled, Women’s and Olympic Sports will go away, the fans will be robbed, and Universities will go broke,” he wrote on Truth Social last week.
Tuberville on the bill
Tuberville had previously railed against the bill, arguing it was too broad and amounted to federal overreach in college sports, but he recently softened his tone.
Before the recess, he acknowledged he was leaning toward eventually supporting the legislation now that it has undergone multiple revisions. Tuberville’s earlier strong opposition to the bill came in stark contrast to his usual tendency to back Trump’s viewpoints on legislation.
“I’m getting closer to it,” the former Auburn football coach told Alabama Daily News before recess. “I’m not there yet.”
He described the world of college sports as the “wild, wild West,” especially since 2021 when the Supreme Court allowed student-athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness. Tuberville acknowledged the Protect College Sports Act might now “help to some degree” even if it’s not a perfect bill.
“I would say right now, the way it stands is it would help more than it would hurt,” Tuberville told ADN earlier this month. “And we can’t keep going down the same path of no rules.”
A spokesperson for Tuberville did not respond to ADN’s question on Thursday for an update on his thoughts on the bill.
What could fumble the bill, Tuberville said, was if he could not get guarantees that the legislation would not overturn state laws that ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Alabama passed a law restricting transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports in 2021 and expanded it to include college athletes in 2023. Tuberville joined fellow conservative Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Jim Banks of Indiana to file an amendment to the Protect College Sports Act on that issue.
“I’m proud to stand with Senators Hawley and Banks in introducing this commonsense amendment to protect millions of female student athletes,” Tuberville said in a statement.
But Trump and the bill’s lead Republican sponsor, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, dispelled the idea that the legislation would supersede state laws banning transgender athletes in women’s sports.
“…this Bill CLEARLY protects the Laws in 27 States protecting Women’s Sports, and banning Men from Women’s Sports,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
The Senate bill also aims to provide protections for women’s and Olympic sports and guarantee scholarship and healthcare opportunities for student-athletes.
Britt working with White House
Before the SEC and Big Ten came out in support of the measure, the University of Alabama and Auburn University teamed up in a rare showing of unity to oppose the bill at the start of July. Spokespeople for the two universities did not respond to requests for comment on an update of their views on the bill.
Britt told ADN before recess that she was “working through” the revised bill, while acknowledging all the hard work the bill’s sponsors had put into the sweeping measure.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for the senator told ADN that “Britt is in conversation with the White House about improving the bill.”
The Alabama Republican said that she still had “some concerns” about the college sports legislation earlier this month and added that she would work “through that language and (see) which ones of those concerns are met.” Britt did not elaborate on her concerns.
State of play in the House
But even if the Senate passes the Protect College Sports Act next month, the bill still faces opposition in the House, including from the Congressional Black Caucus, which put out a statement opposing the Senate bill last week.
“We have sought stronger athlete protections, greater transparency and accountability, meaningful representation in the governance of college athletics, and policies that expand—not limit—opportunities for Black athletes, Black coaches, Black agents, Black entrepreneurs, and HBCUs,” the caucus said. “Those priorities are not meaningfully reflected in the legislation before the Senate.”
The CBC said the bill gives “new legal protections to powerful institutions while failing to adequately protect the athletes whose talent fuels this multibillion-dollar industry.”
The group is also opposed to advancing the measure in light of Republican-led efforts to redistrict across the country, including in Alabama.
The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest federation of labor unions, has also objected to the Senate bill, which could stunt additional Democratic support.
The Senate will return to Washington in mid-September.