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Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban and others testified Wednesday in support of a bipartisan bill aimed at overhauling a college sports system where players can increasingly earn millions of dollars while moving freely between schools.<\/p>\n
The leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee held the hearing as they push\u00a0legislation unveiled\u00a0last week that supporters hope can break the congressional gridlock over how to regulate college athletics. But it\u2019s already facing criticism from some senators and the two most influential conferences in college sports.<\/p>\n
The bill, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would regulate payments to athletes, limit them to one \u201cfree\u201d transfer during their careers and create a \u201cLane Kiffin Rule\u201d restricting coaches from leaving programs during the season. Cruz touted the proposal as \u201cthe last, best hope we have to save college sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you had the biggest, baddest Ferrari that you could ever have and it was going 150 miles an hour toward the Grand Canyon, somebody needs to tap the brakes. And I think that\u2019s what we all need to do here,\u201d Saban said in his opening remarks.<\/p>\n
Notably absent from the the witness list, which included Notre Dame\u2019s athletic director and the commissioner of the newly reconstructed Pac-12 conference, were any representatives from either the Big Ten or Southeastern Conferences. Saban won seven national championships at SEC schools Alabama and LSU but said he was not in Washington to represent any conference or team.<\/p>\n
The SEC\u00a0and the Big Ten,\u00a0the two most powerful conferences in college sports, oppose the bill, arguing it \u201cleaves critical issues unresolved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked after the hearing about opposition from the SEC and Big Ten, Cruz told the Associated Press he remains confident the bill can pass Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to get the votes,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cIf we do nothing, there is no alternative. As every witness testified, college sports is facing a crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cantwell said at Wednesday\u2019s hearing that the legislation is intended to restore competition to college athletics by ensuring success is determined by how universities \u201cbuild a team, and not because they have a billionaire in their back pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also addressed the conferences\u2019 opposition directly, suggesting they fear a more level playing field and the idea \u201cthat somebody\u2019s going to come in and rearrange the deck chairs of those conferences, steal the eyeball schools, and then basically leave everybody with everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Cruz and Cantwell, the two top-ranked lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee, support the bill, passage through the Senate is far from certain. President Donald Trump has yet to comment on the bill publicly.<\/p>\n
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, an ally of Trump\u2019s, said he had \u201cgrave concerns\u201d about the bill. He said his most important concern was \u201cit does nothing about protecting, biological women from competing with men and sports\u201d \u2014 an issue that\u00a0Trump has dealt with via executive orders\u00a0but that has not come up in any version of these bills.<\/p>\n
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a former college football coach at Auburn, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that \u201cthere\u2019s going to have to be some changes\u201d to the bill in order for him to support it.<\/p>\n
House Republican leadership had been working toward a vote on its own college sports bill, known as the SCORE Act, before the Congressional Black Caucus announced its unanimous opposition.<\/p>\n
The CBC said the legislation should not move forward in the wake of the recent Supreme Court ruling that effectively disabled a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. They say athletic leaders are failing to address concerns about the decision\u2019s impact on Black political representation.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Cruz and Cantwell urging the committee to pause consideration of their bill as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeaningful engagement and action by college athletics leadership should be viewed as a necessary first step,\u201d the letter stated.<\/p>\n
#Nick #Saban #Congress #college #sports #biggest #baddest #Ferrari #mph #Grand #Canyon #tap #brakes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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