COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – When it comes to college athletics, few things bring Texas A&M and Texas together. The Protect College Sports Act has become one of those unifying forces.
On Friday, a joint letter from Texas A&M University System Board of Regents Chairman Robert L. Albritton and University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin P. Eltife was sent to both senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, opposing the college sports legislation as it is currently written.
“While we appreciate the efforts of many in the recently released Protect College Sports Act, there remain key issues with the bill as currently drafted,” the letter read. “While Texas A&M University and the University of Texas do not support this bill in its current form, we look forward to working with Congress and the Southeastern Conference to make the necessary improvements so that we can support the bill and ensure the future of college athletics is preserved for students, fans and institutions alike.”
The letter, obtained by KBTX, does not state which aspects of the bill are unfavorable to officials from the two universities. KBTX has asked for clarification on the objections.
The Protect College Sports Act is bipartisan legislation that was authored by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., with the primary goal of codifying guardrails put in place by the House settlement, such as a college athlete’s right to earn name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation and share revenues with their university. The bill also gives the NCAA and conferences limited antitrust exemptions to enforce rules on issues such as NIL compensation, the revenue sharing cap, transfers and tampering.
After Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh challenged the NCAA’s amateur model in a concurring opinion in the Alston v. NCAA decision, athletes, universities and even state attorneys general have been successful in suing the NCAA over rules and sanctions they deemed to be violations of antitrust law.
A&M head coach Mike Elko bluntly said he doesn’t feel any rules currently exist in college sports.
“You look at the NFL as a model, right?” Elko said at SEC spring meetings. “Why do coaches not try to get an edge in the NFL? Because the rules are enforced, right? And so, if you break the rules, the rules are enforced so nobody can get a competitive edge by usurping the cap or doing different things in free agency… The problem in college sports is, who is enforcing the rules? So, if there are rules that nobody is enforcing, that just creates this waterfall of people trying to skirt things.”
The bill is silent on athletes’ potential status as employees, which could allow them to create a union and collectively bargain issues such as compensation and benefits with the NCAA or conferences. Athletes’ employment status has been a sticking point between parties in previous legislative attempts.
Pieces of the legislation have been batted back by another unlikely partnership, the SEC and the Big Ten. Per the bill, media rights can be pooled and collectively negotiated if 75% of the Football Bowl Subdivision agree to join the pool. That collection would need either the Big Ten, the SEC or Notre Dame to agree to join the pool to hit the 75% threshold.
On the day the bill was announced, the SEC presidents and chancellors issued a statement saying the conference would not give up control of its media rights.
“If you look at it, the SEC is the No. 1 football game almost every single week,” A&M Chancellor Glenn Hegar told KBTX at SEC spring meetings. “So, the value that the SEC brings is extremely important, and us being able to contain and make sure that we have our media rights is extremely important to the value of this league and being able to hold this league together and staying together in one unified voice.”
If rights had been pooled, the Big Ten and the SEC would have been prevented from poaching any more programs in conference realignment.
The two conferences issued a joint statement on June 18, stating they had little interaction with the senators on the contents of the bill and opposed it as written.
“Unfortunately, the Big Ten and SEC did not have the opportunity for meaningful engagement with Senate staff regarding those recommendations before the revised bill was released,” the statement read. “As a result, many of the concerns and priorities identified by our universities were not adequately reflected in the revised legislation.”
“We will continue working with senators from both parties to develop legislation that protects student-athletes, establishes workable national standards, and provides meaningful long-term stability for college athletics,” the statement continued.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation advanced the bill to the Senate on June 18. It will be the first legislation regarding the current issues in college athletics that will make its way to the Senate floor.
Copyright 2026 KBTX. All rights reserved.