Since 2020, the SEC and Big Ten have spent millions of dollars lobbying in Congress for a college sports bill, and found allies in several top Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas). Over the past year, they’ve also lobbied the Trump administration, participating in a White House roundtable, sitting on presidential committees, and even, in the case of SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, golfing with the president.
But after all that lobbying, the Big Ten and SEC have found themselves on the opposite side of not just Cruz, but also Trump.
This week, the Big Ten and SEC came out against the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act, introduced by Cruz and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), and co-sponsored by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.) and Chris Coons (D., Del.). On Thursday, Trump endorsed it.
The Big Ten and SEC first proclaimed their opposition in a joint-statement Tuesday night, saying they couldn’t support the bill “as written.” Their stated reasons: It didn’t go far enough to give college sports leaders control over rules through antitrust exemptions and state law preemption; they also had concerns over how the House v. NCAA settlement was codified.
The SEC also previously came out against the concept of multiple leagues pooling media rights to sell them as one package—something the bill allows for, but does not require. The bill also effectively bans the Big Ten and SEC from ever forming a two-conference super league (Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti told Yahoo Sports they haven’t discussed it).
