{"id":710107,"date":"2026-06-17T20:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T20:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/710107\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T20:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T20:37:09","slug":"tommy-tuberville-speaks-out-against-protect-college-sports-act-says-bill-goes-too-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/710107\/","title":{"rendered":"Tommy Tuberville speaks out against Protect College Sports Act, says bill ‘goes too far’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a more than 15-minute speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) spoke against the Protect College Sports Act<\/a>. He said the bill \u201cgoes too far\u201d as he motioned for unanimous consent to pass his bill, the Student-Athlete Act.<\/p>\n

As he gave his remarks, Tuberville had two displays on either side of him. On his right, there were five parts of the Protect College Sports Act he considers part of a \u201cfederal takeover of college sports,\u201d including the caps on athlete compensation and \u201cgovernment-controlled\u201d TV deals. On his left, Tuberville had the three main points of the Student-Athlete Act: five years of eligibility, five consecutive years and one penalty-free transfer.<\/p>\n

[ $19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage ]<\/a><\/p>\n

Tuberville\u2019s comments came after he sent a letter<\/a> outlining his concerns he has with the bipartisan bill, which is scheduled for a markup this week. He stressed the need to prioritize athletes\u2019 education as they go through their college careers and criticized the amount of player movement in the landscape today.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo weeks ago, my colleagues here rolled out a bipartisan bill that aims to fix some of these problems,\u201d Tuberville said. \u201cI respect the work that they put into it. I know it all too well. I know they\u2019re trying to solve a serious and very, very hard problem. It\u2019s almost impossible. But I think their bill goes too far.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust me, if I thought it\u2019d work, I\u2019d support it. Unfortunately, it gets too deep into the businesses of universities, conferences, athletics departments while doing far too little to give the student-athlete the stability and clarity that, actually, they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he assessed the bill, Tuberville argued the Protect College Sports Act has \u201cloopholes and waivers\u201d about eligibility rules, which could open the door for more lawsuits in college athletics. He also said Congress shouldn\u2019t be the one deciding issues such as media rights deals or conference alignments.<\/p>\n

Maria Cantwell objects to Tommy Tuberville motion<\/p>\n

At the end of his remarks, Tommy Tuberville said the simplicity of the Student-Athlete Act would fix problems with the transfer portal and eligibility. He then moved to ask for unanimous consent for its passage. But Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), a co-sponsor of the Protect College Sports Act, spoke next and objected.<\/p>\n

During her response, Cantwell agreed with Tuberville in that she thinks college sports needs help. But she cited the areas in which exceptions can be granted under the Protect College Sports Act, such as pregnancy, religious missions or military service.<\/p>\n

SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI know my colleague from Alabama is trying to be well-meaning,\u201d Cantwell said. \u201cHe has said several times tonight that my colleague and I have worked hard on this legislation. We have. We have because we believe, just like he does, that it is preserving college sports that is critical \u2013 not just for those, the 2% of the system or 3%, that might play in a sport that does generate revenue, but for the 500,000 athletes that are part of our collegiate system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot continue to see these athlete numbers diminish. We can\u2019t wake up and be in the next Olympics and wonder what happened to the training of our athletes, only to find out they got cut because we couldn\u2019t end an arms race in the football spree that we are seeing today. I think that we are going to continue to push ahead on a more broad issue. For that reason, I object.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ted Cruz: Student-Athlete Act will not get 60 votes<\/p>\n

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also responded to Tuberville and made it clear he did not intend to get Congress involved in college sports. Instead, he noted the NCAA requested Congressional help. But passing both the Senate and House is a crucial part of that assistance. Cruz said Tuberville\u2019s bill likely will not get the 60 votes necessary to get out of the Senate because it lacks Democratic support.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo save college sports, we need a bipartisan solution that will be able to garner 60 votes here in the Senate and pass the House,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cUnfortunately, the bill from Sen. Tuberville is not able to achieve 60 votes. Sen. Tuberville is a friend. He loves college sports, he cares about it deeply. He spent a lifetime inspiring, coaching, teaching young men and women athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe provisions in his bill are, in significant respect, reflected in the bipartisan bill that Sen. Cantwell and I have negotiated. \u2026 The way the Senate operates, you\u2019ve got to get 60 votes. If you can\u2019t get 60 votes, your bill can\u2019t pass. That means, even though I support many of the elements of Sen. Tuberville\u2019s bill and they are included in our bill, Sen. Tuberville\u2019s bill is not going to become law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a more than 15-minute speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) spoke…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-710107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}