Even a casual observer of college sports can see the system is broken. What was once a haven for amateur athletics has become big business, even bigger perhaps than the professional leagues that many of these young sportsmen and women hope someday to join. Fans are understandably aghast at the insanity of the new rules establishing transfer portals and name, image, and likeness agreements, and a patchwork of state laws that have tried to stabilize things. Predictably, as others have tried to bring order out of chaos without success, Congress is stepping up to take a whack at it. College sports need that about as much as basketball teams need a goalpost. The various legislation coming out of Congress over the last decade or so related to the subject has invariably made things worse than they’ve ever been.
The latest effort, driven by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and helped along by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), is generating the most buzz and, because it is both bipartisan and introduced by the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, seems to have the best chance of passing, is also just about the worst option out there.
The Cruz-Cantwell Protect College Sports Act, or PCSA, goes much further than the executive orders recently signed by President Donald Trump that try to make college football make sense.
