Congress just took a big step for college sports. But a signed bill might not be the finish line.
The Big Ten and the SEC said yes Friday night. Both groups agreed to back a Senate bill called the Protect College Sports Act.
School leaders in both conferences voted to support the plan. They got new wording about deals with outside groups before they’d sign off.
The vote pulled the bill back from what looked like a dead end. Now it needs 60 votes to move forward before the Senate leaves for summer break next Friday.
Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., lead the bipartisan push behind the bill.
Cantwell posted about the news soon after the conferences spoke up.
“Good,” Cantwell posted on X. “Now progress can be made in protecting women and Olympic athletes and moving this legislation closer to the President’s desk.”
Good. Now progress can be made in protecting women and Olympic athletes and moving this legislation closer to the President’s desk. https://t.co/RWytYnzVya
— Sen. Maria Cantwell (@SenatorCantwell) August 1, 2026
Money and politics push the bill forward
President Donald Trump also jumped in late Thursday night. His push helped bring both sides back to the table.
Cody Campbell is a Texas Tech regent who helped shape the plan.
He called the SEC and Big Ten support “a major breakthrough that moves us closer to a Senate vote and what folks hope is a better future” for the sport.
Money is the biggest piece of the puzzle here. Schools would get $27.5 million to keep players, on top of the $21.3 million cap already in place.
That’s close to $48.8 million total for one roster. The extra cash would replace payments that used to come from outside groups tied to player deals.
Those outside payments had blown past the old cap for a while. Many schools didn’t think that was fair.
The SEC and Big Ten wanted tighter rules too. They want outside NIL deals to come from real outside groups and not from a school’s own media partner in disguise.
Even the bill’s backers admit a few things still need work. Nobody knows yet if the new cap fits with the House settlement rules already on the books.
Bill still has a long way to go
Not everyone in the Senate is on board. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has fought the bill from the start.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., pushed back too. He said the bill “as written today” “creates chaos and eliminates opportunity for student-athletes.”
Even if the Senate passes the bill, the House is next. That chamber spent more than a year stuck on a similar plan called the SCORE Act.
Smaller conferences liked the bill early on. Some may think twice now since bigger leagues get to pay players a lot more money.
Timing matters here too. The Senate wants a vote before it leaves town next Friday for summer break.
That’s a tight window for a bill this big. A rushed vote can leave loose ends that show up later.
Even a signed bill could end up in court
Here’s the real question for Arkansas fans and everyone else who follows college sports. Even if Congress passes this bill and the president signs it, will it survive in court?
The NCAA already knows how that goes. The same day the SEC and Big Ten backed the bill, the NCAA lost a pair of court cases about a rule on player eligibility.
NCAA President Charlie Baker used those losses to push for the bill even harder. He said “it is long past time leaders across college sports call for the immediate passage of the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act.”
Baker’s point cuts both ways though. If courts can strike down NCAA rules this fast, they can look hard at a brand new law too.
A bill built from months of last-minute deals between the Big Ten, the SEC and lawmakers is bound to have gaps. Lawyers tend to find those gaps fast.
The Razorbacks and every other SEC program have a lot riding on this. So does the Big Ten, which fought just as hard for its own terms.
Even a signed law with strong support from Congress and the White House isn’t safe from a lawsuit.
College sports has learned that lesson again and again over the past few years.
The Hogs and the rest of the SEC can celebrate a win in Washington for now. But the next fight might not happen in the Senate. It might happen in a courtroom.
Key takeaways
- The SEC and Big Ten backed the Protect College Sports Act Friday night after getting new language on third-party NIL deals, reviving a bill that needs 60 Senate votes before next Friday’s summer break.
- The plan adds $27.5 million on top of the existing $21.3 million cap, letting schools pay up to $48.8 million total, but it still needs to clear a divided House after passing the Senate.
- Even with SEC and Big Ten support, unresolved questions about the House settlement and fresh NCAA court losses suggest a signed bill could still face a legal fight.
