WASHINGTON, September 21 — Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach who has spent months fighting the Protect College Sports Act, walked back his opposition Thursday and declared himself a “yes” vote on the sweeping bipartisan bill to overhaul college sports. The Senate voted 77-22 on Thursday to clear the bill’s second procedural hurdle, setting up a possible final vote as soon as next week. On the bill’s first procedural vote Tuesday, Tuberville voted against the measure.
By Thursday, he had changed course. “I voted against it just to show my disapproval.
It could be better,” Tuberville told Alabama Daily News. “College sports is, of course, important to me because I’ve been around it all my life, and I don’t want to see it overshadowed by the federal government.”
A reluctant yes
Alabama’s senior senator had opposed the bill for months, citing concerns about federal overreach in college sports, worries that it could overturn state laws banning transgender athletes in women’s sports, and opposition to waivers regarding transfers. With updated changes to the bill text, and it being the only college sports bill that has garnered broad, bipartisan support, Tuberville is now on board, albeit reluctantly. “We can’t get anything else done.
Something has to be done,” he said. “Let’s try it.
But the problem is, when you do it, it’s hard to retract anything.” On his way to the Senate floor to vote for the legislation Thursday, Tuberville still expressed dissatisfaction with the bill, arguing that it did not thoroughly address the education component of college sports. “But I’m getting ready to vote yes,” Tuberville told ADN, flashing a thumbs up.
What the bill would do
The legislation, unveiled in May after intense negotiations between its sponsors, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would set national standards for student-athlete compensation, transfers and eligibility rules. It would also create limited antitrust protections for the NCAA, shielding the organization from legal challenges related to those rules.
The bill would guarantee scholarship and healthcare opportunities for student-athletes and cap agent fees at no more than 5%. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., is also now behind the Protect College Sports Act after she had been in conversations to update the bill to earn her support.
She voted in favor of the legislation in both of this week’s procedural votes. Britt and Tuberville were glad to see the bill’s language clarified to ensure state laws, such as Alabama’s, banning transgender athletes in women’s sports cannot be overturned by this legislation. Britt also told ADN she was working to finalize changes to make it easier for schools to change conferences under the bill.
“The way that this bill was currently written, you would have to sit out five years if you wanted to leave,” Britt said. “Five years with zero conference revenue.
Nobody could afford to do that, which meant that you would always be beholden to the SEC.” She confirmed on social media that the realignment restriction would go down to three years and would sunset after six years. She added that she doesn’t foresee the University of Alabama or Auburn University waiting to leave the SEC, but Britt said she wanted the schools to have that “flexibility.”
Opposition remains
Despite bipartisan support, some Democratic senators, the NAACP and labor groups strongly oppose the bill over concerns that it would strip away college athletes’ rights. “This bill protects the billions of dollars that coaches and sports industry executives are making over the suppression of compensation for some of the most highly valued athletes in the world,” U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., one of the bill’s most ardent opponents, said on a press call this week.
Murphy also pushed back on the argument from the bill’s proponents that something needs to be done on the issue. What to watch next: a possible final Senate vote as soon as next week, where the bill’s bipartisan coalition will be tested against the objections of Murphy, the NAACP and labor groups.
