Senate passes major bill to overhaul college sports

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The Senate on Monday passed a major bill to overhaul college athletics with a large bipartisan vote, 77-22.

The bill now moves to the House, but that chamber is on recess until after the November midterms, and it remains to be seen whether it will back the Senate bill. Notably, the Congressional Black Caucus has announced its opposition to the legislation.

The measure, known as the “ Protect College Sports Act ,” would set national standards for how college athletes can profit on their name, image and likeness.

Sen. Ted Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee and is the lead sponsor of the bill, has decried the “chaos” in the “wild west” of college sports contracts and argued Congress has a duty to act.

“The Protect College Sports Act is bipartisan legislation designed to bring order to the chaos, designed to put simple, common sense rules in place to that college sports remain strong and vibrant for decades to come,” he said last week at a press conference.

The bill has been endorsed by the NCAA and top conferences. However, the National College Players Association, the NAACP and the AFL-CIO oppose the bill, arguing that it protects the universities’ and the NCAA’s interests without sufficient protection for student athletes’ rights.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the bill, argued the legislation will encourage colleges to spend money on education and research rather than having to shell out skyrocketing amounts for their sports teams.

“This is about reining in the bad practices that are happening in college sports today, the runaway costs that are sending people to the state legislature asking for bailout from taxpayers to pay for sports, asking people to take endowment funds that really should go to things like research or AI, and instead have to be spent because of the runaway arms race in sports spending,” she said.

President Donald Trump has called on Congress to send the measure to his desk, with the White House saying in a news release that he “believes wholeheartedly that college sports are worth fighting for — for the athletes, the schools, the fans, and America.”

In addition to giving the NCAA the authority to regulate player compensation, it limits athletes to a one-time transfer and establishes a five-year eligibility standard. It also allows conferences to negotiate future TV deals as a group but prevents conferences from growing beyond 19 teams. The Big Ten, for example, has 18 teams.

However, the bill’s opponents argue the anti-trust exemptions risk giving too much power to the schools and the NCAA.

“What this bill does, at its core, is protect a system of exploitation,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said in a joint statement with labor organizations. “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.”

Sen. Cory Booker, who played football at Stanford University, slammed the bill, saying it is “for the large, wealthy interests that have been controlling college sports for a long time.”

The National College Players Association also warned that the package could block athletes from being able to successfully sue their universities in the case of sexual abuse, catastrophic injury or death through what it terms a “loophole” allowing the schools to “cure” a violation within 30 days.

Cruz pushed back on the argument that the bill would diminish the earning potential and bargaining power for top student athletes. “It does the exact opposite, which is it protects student athletes. It protects, in law, their right, No. 1, to participate in revenue sharing from their schools, but No. 2, to receive genuine name, image and likeness compensation.”

The Texas senator emphasized the bill looks beyond the “superstars” in college athletics “to the 99% of student athletes who will never play in the NBA, will never play in the NFL.”

“Right now, sports gives them a ticket to college, and the skills they learn — hard work, discipline, excellence, teamwork, sportsmanship — those skills set them up for success,” he continued. “And if we don’t act, we’re going to see hundreds of thousands of these positions go away. That would be devastating for student athletes.”

CNN’s Dana O’Neil contributed to this report.

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周一，参议院以 77 比 22 的大比分通过了一项旨在改革大学体育运动的重要法案。

该法案现已提交众议院，但众议院正处于休会期，直至11月中期选举之后才会复会，因此众议院是否会支持参议院的法案仍有待观察。值得注意的是，国会黑人议员团已宣布反对该法案。

这项名为“保护大学体育法案”的措施，将为大学运动员如何利用自己的姓名、形象和肖像权获利制定国家标准。

参议院商务委员会主席兼该法案的主要发起人特德·克鲁兹参议员谴责大学体育合同“蛮荒西部”的“混乱”，并认为国会有责任采取行动。

“《保护大学体育法案》是一项两党共同支持的立法，旨在规范混乱局面，制定简单、符合常理的规则，以确保大学体育在未来几十年保持强劲和活力，”他上周在新闻发布会上说。

该法案已获得NCAA和各大联盟的支持。然而，全国大学运动员协会、全国有色人种协进会和美国劳工联合会-产业工会联合会反对该法案，认为该法案保护了大学和NCAA的利益，而没有充分保护学生运动员的权利。

该法案的主要民主党共同发起人参议员玛丽亚·坎特韦尔认为，这项立法将鼓励大学把钱花在教育和研究上，而不是不得不为他们的体育队支付飙升的金额。

“这关乎遏制当今大学体育界的不良风气，以及失控的成本，这些成本迫使人们向州立法机构请求纳税人救助以支付体育开支，要求人们挪用本应用于研究或人工智能等领域的捐赠基金，而这些基金却因为体育支出失控的军备竞赛而被挪用，”她说。

唐纳德·特朗普总统呼吁国会把这项法案送到他的办公桌上。白宫在一份新闻稿中表示，他“全心全意地相信，大学体育运动值得为之奋斗——为了运动员、学校、球迷和美国”。

除了赋予NCAA监管球员薪酬的权力外，该法案还限制运动员只能转学一次，并规定了五年的参赛资格标准。它还允许各联盟以集体名义协商未来的电视转播协议，但限制联盟的球队数量不得超过19支。例如，十大联盟目前只有18支球队。

然而，该法案的反对者认为，反垄断豁免条款可能会赋予学校和 NCAA 过大的权力。

“这项法案的核心在于保护一个剥削体系，”民主党参议员克里斯·墨菲与劳工组织发表联合声明称。“这项法案通过压制世界上一些最有价值运动员的薪酬，来保护教练和高管们数十亿美元的收入。”

曾在斯坦福大学踢过橄榄球的参议员科里·布克猛烈抨击了这项法案，称其“是为了长期以来控制大学体育的大型富裕利益集团的利益”。

全国大学运动员协会还警告说，该方案可能会阻止运动员在遭受性虐待、灾难性伤害或死亡的情况下成功起诉他们的大学，因为该方案存在一个“漏洞”，允许学校在 30 天内“纠正”违规行为。

克鲁兹反驳了该法案会削弱顶尖学生运动员收入潜力和议价能力的说法。“恰恰相反，它保护了学生运动员。它从法律上保护了他们的权利，第一，参与学校收入分成；第二，获得名誉、形象和肖像权补偿。”

这位德克萨斯州参议员强调，该法案的关注点不仅仅在于大学体育界的“超级明星”，而在于“99% 的学生运动员，他们永远不会进入 NBA，也不会进入 NFL”。

“目前，体育运动为他们提供了进入大学的敲门砖，他们从中学习到的技能——努力、自律、追求卓越、团队合作、体育精神——这些技能将为他们的成功奠定基础，”他继续说道。“如果我们不采取行动，我们将看到成千上万个这样的职位消失。这对学生运动员来说将是毁灭性的打击。”

CNN的达娜·奥尼尔对本报道亦有贡献。