I voted no on the Protect College Sports Act. In classic Washington fashion, Congress has crafted a bill that misses the mark by creating massive federal intervention and buying votes with nearly $200 MILLION in new spending for some schools. This spending isn’t paid for and will only add to our $40 TRILLION debt.
Are there issues in college athletics that deserve federal input? Absolutely. I believe Congress should ban men from competing in women’s sports and create some national standards to end the transfer portal chaos. While this bill makes progress on those issues, it fails to address problems I have heard directly from universities in my state, like disagreements on conference caps, so I couldn’t support it.
This bill also goes way too far inserting the federal government into collegiate athletics. We don’t need federal law that forces schools to lose revenue if they want to change their conference or dictates when schools can change their coaches and where their salaries can come from.
I appreciate the bipartisan work that’s been done to try to provide schools, athletes, and fans with some clarity and consistency, but this legislation simply isn’t there yet. As we continue the September work period, I encourage my colleagues to approach college athletics through a narrower lens, and in the meantime refocus our efforts on actions to bring down the cost of living and secure our federal elections.