Future of Protect College Sports Act | Dallas News Live

You know, the big business of college sports keeps growing. In 2018, the transfer portal came into existence and is really still evolving. Now, a student-athlete can jump in the portal with unlimited transfers and eligibility to play right away. And NIL, name, image, likeness, compensation for student-athletes. Some complained it created chaos in college sports, and Senator Ted Cruz proposed the... Protect College Sports Act, but that could be tackled after the midterm elections. Sunil Jamal is the leader of Munchhart Sports and Entertainment Practice and former Associate General Counsel of the Houston Texans. Thank you for being with us. Can you talk about how the power shift following the midterm elections could end up stopping this Protect College Sports Act by Senator Ted Cruz? Yeah, thanks for having me on Sean. Definitely, the midterms really turn this bill from a likely bill into a long shot. Look, Republicans still run the Congress until January 3rd. But a realistic path now is either attaching it to a must pass spending bill, whether it's government funding, defense spending. Or unfortunately or fortunately for some, they would have to revise the bill and start over in 2027. With the Democratic Congress and and as Senator Ted Cruz's committee said, any attempt to amend it or make revisions to the to the act would surefire make sure that it's a surefire defeat. Wow. So the Big Ten is already moving ahead of Congress with its own NIL restrictions, kind of like a salary cap, right? On student athlete compensation and some attorneys, athletes, attorneys say, look, that's out of line. Why do they say that? Yeah, earlier this week, the Big Ten adopted basically the federal bill's numbers, but adopted it for all of its schools. So they said schools are allowed to get NIL compensation for up to 49 million, which was part of the PCSA. Now there are other conferences, the Big 12, the SEC that may follow, they could, but it It depends on whether or not they want to join. Join the Big Ten or go against it and try to find their own policies. Now if you look at some of our flagship universities, they're already spending above that $49 million threshold. So is it advantageous for them to join the Big Ten? Additionally, it might invite antitrust challenges from opponents who already oppose the PCSA and now see many of the conferences join the Big Ten. Yeah, so it does have a potentially big impact on recruiting, right? Huge, huge. And as I mentioned, let's say the last five, last year, there were five, the top five recruits from the state of Texas. They actually didn't end up at A&M or Texas or any other Texas university. Two of them ended up at, in Big Ten schools, the USC and Ohio State. So this could be a huge shift in recruiting and how the national kind of portrayal of this NIL proceeds throughout the coming years. Not just on the field, but off the field. How did the purity of college sports become so commercialized, if you will? Yeah, well, the House settlement really kind of initiated that. I mean, this has been going on for many, many years, if not decades, where, look, these athletes deservedly get to extract some of the value of their name, image, and likeness. And it was always thought Well, how can we do this in a way with infrastructure, with limits, with borders and a foundation? Unfortunately, right now we're in the wild, wild west. I mean, I mean, the... the rules and regulations, they just don't exist. And so what the conferences have to do is make up their own policies to keep the schools and the universities in order and to keep this chaos kind of limited to its boundaries. Without the help of Congress, I don't see this solving on its own. Schools are always self-interested, I mean, conferences will be the same. Everything is commercialized and it all comes down to money, not just for athletes, but for agents, for managers, for schools, for conferences, for broadcasts, for TV networks. Absolutely. And so we have to find a way where everyone can play in the same environment. Do you like the act proposed, what's been written by our Senator Ted Cruz? It's a pretty good act, I mean it solved a lot of the issues, look the Congressional Black Caucus had opposed it and has opposed it and so have some of the Democrats as well. Look I think the two things that I would love to see in any act is eligibility. Who can actually play? Now, we have the five-year eligibility rule that started. And now that's led to some state-by-state challenges. So Texas courts have ruled differently than Kentucky courts, or Mississippi courts, the federal courts. I would love some sort of preemption to solve that issue. The second is solving the antitrust issue that I mentioned before. There will be some sort of cap mechanism, and I think there needs to be, in order to allow these flagship universities. To play in the same environment as some of the middle tier universities. And so there needs to be a cap, but we also need to make sure that the athletes are funded and deservedly get paid for the value that they bring on the field and off the field. Okay, last question. Why do we need Congress? Why not the NCAA solve this on their own? That's a great question. And I think that ship has sailed. I mean, the NCAA had the opportunity to do it. They could have done this 10, 15 years ago. And with the inclusion of the House settlement and where we are now, I think that in order to get all of the universities and the conferences in the same environment, we really need Congress to step in or some agreement between the conferences Maybe working with the NCAA to develop a platform in order to build that cap structure and also support these athletes. Sunil Jamal, thank you for your insights. Appreciate you being with us today, my friend. I appreciate you, Sean. Thank you. Yes, sir.