After months of withholding support and weeks of back and forth with lawmakers, the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference on Friday publicly backed a bipartisan Senate bill designed to stabilize college athlete compensation and provide antitrust protections to the NCAA and its most powerful conferences.The final major sticking point for the conferences with the Protect College Sports Act was language in a provision regarding name, image and likeness deals athletes can strike with companies that work directly with schools. The conferences wanted more well-defined restrictions on deals between athletes and so-called associated entities to cut off the workarounds some schools have been using to blow past the current annual revenue-sharing limit of $20.5 million they can direct to athletes.With the Big Ten and SEC now on board, the bill has a chance of getting to the Senate floor next week for a vote. Still, there is no guarantee Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) will be able to squeeze it in before Aug. 7, when the Senate breaks for a five-week recess.The bill needs 60 votes to pass, and where that count stands in the Senate is unclear. Lawmakers are hoping for robust support that easily passes the threshold, believing that gives the bill a better chance of then passing a House vote in the fall. Reforming college sports has been a priority for President Donald Trump, and the White House has also pushed for Congress to act.The bipartisan bill was introduced in May by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). It addresses a wide range of issues in college sports, including antitrust exemptions that would allow the NCAA and member conferences to make rules about athlete eligibility, transfers and NIL compensation, while shielding them from an onslaught of legal challenges.