A contingent of Senate Democrats, spearheaded by Maria Cantwell, are proposing legislation — termed the Student Athlete Fairness and Enforcement Act — which, encompassing several ideas, modifies the Sports Broadcasting Act to authorize collegiate conferences to collectively manage broadcasting permissions.
Senators Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal are lending their support as co-sponsors to this fresh legislative endeavor concerning college athletics. Currently, it lacks backing from across the aisle. Indeed, Senate Republicans, guided by Ted Cruz, who have devoted the preceding months to formulating a college sports bill, were unaware on Monday of the introduction of the Democrat-supported measure, known as the SAFE Act. As the head of the Senate Commerce Committee, Cruz holds sway over the advancement of college sports-related legislation.
Despite the SAFE Act’s challenging prospects for enactment, the widely discussed modification to the Sports Broadcasting Act represents a significant element in any legislative proposal. Theoretically, collegiate conferences have the potential to amplify the worth of their media rights arrangements through the consolidation of their agreements, which are presently negotiated on an individual basis. The anticipated surge in revenues would furnish institutions with greater monetary resources to satisfy one of the stipulations of the SAFE Act: the maintenance of Olympic sport scholarship allocations and team rosters at the levels seen in 2023-24.
The SAFE Act stands as an extensive piece of legislation, incorporating a diverse array of concepts unrelated to the amendment of the Sports Broadcasting Act. By way of illustration, the bill: (1) permits athletes to transfer institutions on two occasions without incurring the penalty of a year-long suspension from competition; (2) ensures the provision of scholarships for a decade following the conclusion of a player’s eligibility; (3) mandates that institutions extend five years of post-eligibility medical coverage to athletes; and (4) establishes an agent registry and certification mechanism.
While the bill formally incorporates components of the NCAA’s groundbreaking settlement reached in the House and takes precedence over state-level NIL regulations, it does not tackle the issue of athlete employment and refrains from granting the NCAA and its conferences protection from liability in the enforcement of numerous regulations — two conspicuous distinctions that set it apart from the SCORE Act, the Republican-backed bill currently at the center of deliberation within the House of Representatives.
The bill does solidify certain aspects of the House settlement, notably the cap on athlete revenue-sharing and the prerequisite for NIL collectives to (1) engage in transactions with athletes that fulfill a “valid business purpose” criterion and (2) submit those transactions to the NCAA and its newly established enforcement division, intended to regulate booster-supported payments, known as the College Sports Commission.
The SAFE Act additionally bestows oversight and enforcement authority upon the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.
However, the most compelling concept involves amending the Sports Broadcasting Act, a statute enacted in 1961 that empowers professional leagues to jointly negotiate their media rights contracts without facing antitrust challenges. Revising the SBA has been a long-standing notion promoted as a remedy for the escalating financial burdens within collegiate athletics.
Notably, Texas-based billionaire businessman Cody Campbell, an associate of President Donald Trump, has actively urged lawmakers to modify the Sports Broadcasting Act, even allocating millions of dollars to television advertisements on the subject and influencing certain House Republicans to postpone their endorsement of the SCORE Act unless it incorporates an amendment to the SBA.
Yet, skepticism surrounds the proposed alterations to the SBA. Leaders within the SEC and Big Ten have voiced opposition to any widespread consolidation of media rights.
Representative Steve Scalise, representing Louisiana’s Republican Party and holding a pivotal role in overseeing college sports legislation within the House as the House Majority Leader, does not support any substantial revisions to the SCORE Act, including any amendment pertaining to the Sports Broadcasting Act.
“The TV contracts are a result of negotiations between entities and they are already in place,” Scalise told Yahoo Sports earlier this month. “Congress isn’t looking to come in and break up contracts already negotiated between parties.”
The SAFE Act, in contrast, would not only amend the SBA but also establish a committee within the NCAA tasked with facilitating the pooling of media rights, optimizing revenues, and equitably distributing those revenues to ensure that institutions maintain scholarship support and roster sizes for women’s and Olympic sports.
The SAFE Act further stipulates that broadcast networks make their football and basketball games accessible on a non-exclusive basis (i.e., without placing local content behind a paywall). Moreover, the Act mandates that broadcast networks and streaming platforms reassign media rights to institutions if the entity is not actively utilizing the rights to also broadcast women’s and Olympic sports.
The introduction of the SAFE Act occurs during an especially strained period on Capitol Hill with respect to college sports and other legislative priorities. The federal government is on the brink of a shutdown on Wednesday unless Congress reaches a bipartisan agreement on spending before then.
Regarding college sports matters, Republicans and Democrats remain divided on various aspects of the bill, mirroring the divergence between the House and Senate. Although the SCORE Act has progressed further than any prior comprehensive college sports legislation, it has not been presented for a vote on the floor, and even if it secures passage in the House, the bill encounters a significantly higher obstacle in the Senate, where filibuster regulations necessitate the support of 60 votes.
Recent progress has been achieved in the advancement of the SCORE Act, involving both the Congressional Black Caucus and a coalition of 10 non-FBS conferences, as detailed last week at Yahoo Sports.
