The Protect College Sports Act caps Power Four conferences at 20 members, and the projections started the same day. The provision does not do what the projections assume. Section 205 sits in the bill's broadcasting title, not the athlete title, and it is built as a merger rule. The Congressional Budget Office's own cost estimate describes it as prohibiting large football conferences — those with annual revenues above $700 million — "from acquiring the assets, media rights, or membership of another similar conference or institution." It bars acquiring. It does not order anyone to shed members. And nobody is near it. The SEC has 16. The Big Ten has 18. The Big 12 has 16. The ACC has 18, and 17 for football, because Notre Dame is an ACC member in everything but football. No Power Four league is at 20 — the closest are two short, and the SEC is sitting on four empty seats. The SEC also did not fight this cap: it and the Big Ten opposed the bill and then backed it on July 31, and Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida moved the number from 19 to 20 by voice vote days before passage. Segment two is the provision doing the actual work. A school moving between Power Four conferences must first spend three consecutive years as an independent or in a conference earning under $700 million. It was five years in an earlier draft. It expires after six years. Notre Dame and UConn are exempt because they are already independent. The ACC fought it — internal ACC documents reported by SB Nation say the provisions allow "some G6 movement, but little A4 movement," and officials from at least five ACC schools including Clemson and Florida State complained to lawmakers. The honest caveat, said on air: the verbatim text of Section 205 could not be obtained, so everything here rests on the CBO estimate, the Senate Commerce Committee's own section-by-section summary, and reporting. And none of it is law — the House does not return until November 9, and any bill not passed by January 3 dies when the new Congress is sworn in. Is a cap that caps nobody worth this much argument? Tell me in the comments. Sources: Congressional Budget Office cost estimate for S.4668; Senate Commerce Committee section-by-section summary; Brandon Marcello, CBS Sports; Chris Vannini, The Athletic; Jon Loesche, SB Nation; Sen. Ashley Moody's office; conference membership per each league. Join the conversation on the show Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC
The Protect College Sports Act caps Power Four conferences at 20 members, and the projections started the same day. The provision does not do what the projections assume.
Section 205 sits in the bill's broadcasting title, not the athlete title, and it is built as a merger rule. The Congressional Budget Office's own cost estimate describes it as prohibiting large football conferences — those with annual revenues above $700 million — "from acquiring the assets, media rights, or membership of another similar conference or institution." It bars acquiring. It does not order anyone to shed members.
And nobody is near it. The SEC has 16. The Big Ten has 18. The Big 12 has 16. The ACC has 18, and 17 for football, because Notre Dame is an ACC member in everything but football. No Power Four league is at 20 — the closest are two short, and the SEC is sitting on four empty seats. The SEC also did not fight this cap: it and the Big Ten opposed the bill and then backed it on July 31, and Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida moved the number from 19 to 20 by voice vote days before passage.
Segment two is the provision doing the actual work. A school moving between Power Four conferences must first spend three consecutive years as an independent or in a conference earning under $700 million. It was five years in an earlier draft. It expires after six years. Notre Dame and UConn are exempt because they are already independent. The ACC fought it — internal ACC documents reported by SB Nation say the provisions allow "some G6 movement, but little A4 movement," and officials from at least five ACC schools including Clemson and Florida State complained to lawmakers.
The honest caveat, said on air: the verbatim text of Section 205 could not be obtained, so everything here rests on the CBO estimate, the Senate Commerce Committee's own section-by-section summary, and reporting. And none of it is law — the House does not return until November 9, and any bill not passed by January 3 dies when the new Congress is sworn in.
Is a cap that caps nobody worth this much argument? Tell me in the comments.
Sources: Congressional Budget Office cost estimate for S.4668; Senate Commerce Committee section-by-section summary; Brandon Marcello, CBS Sports; Chris Vannini, The Athletic; Jon Loesche, SB Nation; Sen. Ashley Moody's office; conference membership per each league.
Join the conversation on the show Discord: https://discord.gg/KF3dtcQJhC