Ohio State President Ravi Bellamkonda said he hopes The Protect College Sports Act – a bill aimed at providing new guardrails for the ever-changing college athletics landscape that passed the U.S. Senate
by a bipartisan vote of 77-22 – can make it across the finish line.
"I'm hoping the House will take this up and pass it, because we need some certainty in cost and containment," Bellamkonda told reporters at a university event Sept. 29. "It does many things for the athletes and protects their health. There are many benefits to the bill."
The bill would codify name, image and likeness (NIL) deals for student-athletes. It would also grant the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption in order to restore its five-year eligibility rule and transfer limits, temporarily pause conference realignment and create guidelines around when a college football or basketball coach can be hired away from another program.
Additionally, the measure would expand revenue-sharing from schools to athletes up to approximately $43 to $45 million, and contains a provision where schools may spend up to an additional $5 million on revenue-sharing to women's and Olympic non-revenue sports.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the bill's main architect alongside Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), told USA TODAY Sports before the bill passed the Senate on Sept. 28 that it would help curb a "spending spiral where virtually every athletic department is losing millions of dollars."
"The most important part of the bill is bringing order to chaos," Cruz said. "College sports is the Wild West. There are essentially no rules."
Bellamkonda said Ohio State has been a strong advocate of the bill within the Big Ten and nationally. The Big Ten and SEC agreed to support the bill over the summer, joining a list of vocal supporters that includes the NCAA and President Donald Trump.
Bellamkonda previously told The Dispatch that his "default position" is to maintain all of Ohio State's 36 Division I athletic programs, "as long as we're able to compete and take care of all these sports and do well."
In a statement shared after the bill passed the U.S. Senate on Monday night, NCAA President Charlie Baker applauded what he called a "bipartisan effort to protect this uniquely American tradition of college sports in the decades to come."
"There is much work left to do to ensure student-athlete benefits are codified into federal law," Baker said.
To become law, the Protect College Sports Act has to pass the U.S. House with a simple majority vote. If the bill passes there, it would be moved to Trump's desk, who has signaled he would sign it.
The House, however, is recessed until after the midterm elections in early November. On Monday, Cruz called on Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to immediately bring lawmakers back to pass the bill.
"The House can pass the bill in just one day. Unlike the Senate, the House can move very quickly," Cruz told USA TODAY Sports. "I've already urged President Trump to sign the bill on the set of (ESPN’s) 'College GameDay' at a big game this fall. But it is my hope and belief that this bill will be signed into law before election day."
Opponents of the bill – including Sens. Corey Booker (D-New Jersey) and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) and labor activists – have argued it would only cap spending in the form of revenue-sharing to student athletes and would not address multimillion dollar coaching contracts and buyouts. They also say that the bill wouldn't address collective bargaining concerns and doesn't include a provision to make athletes employees of their respective institutions.
USA TODAY reporters John Brice and Zachary Schermele contributed to this article.
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State president praises Senate for passing major college athletics bill
