Good morning!
The past several days have provided another vivid illustration of both the urgency surrounding the future of college athletics and the difficulty of achieving meaningful reform across an increasingly diverse Division I landscape.
Negotiations surrounding the Protect College Sports Act continued late into Thursday evening as Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell, along with their staffs, worked to address stakeholder concerns while preserving the bipartisan coalition necessary to advance the legislation. The Senate ultimately adjourned Thursday without beginning the procedural process required to schedule a vote, leaving only a narrow path for consideration before the August recess.
The outlook changed again Friday evening when the Big Ten and SEC announced that their presidents and chancellors now support the Protect College Sports Act “as currently drafted.” Their endorsement followed extensive negotiations and revisions to the legislation and increases the possibility that the measure could still receive Senate consideration before the recess. As of this writing, however, an updated version of the bill has not been publicly available for complete review.
The legislation previously advanced from the Senate Commerce Committee by a bipartisan 19–9 vote. Its central provisions seek to establish national standards governing student-athlete eligibility, transfers, name, image and likeness activities, agents and enforcement; preempt conflicting state laws; and provide legal protections intended to reduce the continuing wave of litigation confronting the NCAA, conferences and institutions.
No legislation of this magnitude will satisfy every constituency, and the final language deserves careful review. Yet the events of the past week reinforced an increasingly unavoidable reality: continuing to govern college athletics through inconsistent state laws, emergency court rulings and case-by-case litigation is not a sustainable strategy.
The challenge is no longer simply that Division I institutions operate with different financial resources, legal environments and competitive priorities—those differences have existed for decades. Today, however, the legal and regulatory landscape increasingly magnifies those differences, making it far more difficult to develop one national framework that works effectively for the entire Association. The priorities of the wealthiest athletics programs do not always align with those of NCAA Division I institutions working to preserve broad-based sport sponsorship with significantly fewer resources. Those differing perspectives are both understandable and legitimate. At the same time, they should not prevent consideration of a national framework that provides meaningful protections and greater long-term stability for the entire Association.
For most of Division I, continued instability carries real consequences. More litigation means additional legal and compliance expenses, greater uncertainty in roster and eligibility decisions, and increasing pressure on the resources used to support Olympic sports and broad-based student-athlete opportunities. The institutions least equipped to absorb those costs would likely feel the effects first and most severely.
That reality was underscored again this weekend as a federal court in Colorado clarified the scope of a preliminary injunction affecting the NCAA’s eligibility rules. The ruling preserved the House settlement’s roster limits and benefits cap and confirmed that other NCAA eligibility requirements remain in effect, but the matter will now move into an expedited appellate process. Whatever one’s view of the underlying case, it offers another example of significant national policy being shaped through litigation rather than through a clear and durable governing framework.
The coming week may therefore prove consequential. Congress still has an opportunity to act, but the path remains narrow. The Big West will continue supporting solutions that bring greater consistency and stability to college athletics, protect broad-based Division I opportunities and recognize that the future of the enterprise cannot be designed solely around the institutions with the greatest financial resources.
Today’s music is “The Winner Takes it All” by ABBA: a fitting reflection on the unforgiving nature of high-stakes negotiations, where months of progress can ultimately turn on one unresolved issue.
Let’s get to The Bold Type.
CONGRATULATIONS!
- To former Big West student-athlete Maximilian Arfsten, who competed in the 2026 MLS All-Star Game last week! Read more >>>
2026-27 BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS SITES, DATES AND FORMATS REVEALED FOR UPCOMING SEASON
With the 2026-27 sports season set to embark in a few short weeks, The Big West is revealing its championship dates, sites and formats for its 19-conference sponsored sports. Read more >>>
THE BIG WEST PARTNERS WITH DAN TORTORA BROADCAST MEDIA
The Big West has announced a multimedia marketing partnership with Dan Tortora Broadcast Media, LLC. The multimedia marketing partnership provides fans with multiple avenues to consume the latest news, notes and content from across the conference.
The partnership will feature The Big West on the national Internet television and radio broadcast “Wake Up Call with Dan Tortora”, featuring all member institutions as well as specials with Commissioner Dan Butterly.
Each week, Dan Tortora will speak with a coach or administrator in a segment entitled “Journey Out West”. Each school will have representation throughout the year, providing an opportunity for their student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and/or alumni to tell their stories in connection with their respective institutions. This segment will air weekly on Fridays at 7:30 a.m. PT/10:30 a.m. ET planned to begin on Friday, August 7.
Read more >>>
ELIGIBILITY LITIGATION
The week's conversations surrounding the Protect College Sports Act also underscored another reality facing Division I athletics: increasingly significant policy decisions continue to be shaped through the courts rather than through a consistent national framework. That trend continued over the weekend.
On Friday, a federal court in Colorado issued a class-wide preliminary injunction in Wisne v. NCAA affecting certain Division I student-athletes who began collegiate competition during the 2022-23 academic year and exhausted four seasons of eligibility following the 2025-26 season. The NCAA has announced that it will pursue an expedited appeal.
On Sunday, the court issued additional clarification confirming that several important aspects of the recently approved House settlement remain unchanged. Specifically, the settlement's roster limits and student-athlete benefits cap remain fully in effect. The court also clarified that an additional season of eligibility is not automatically available to every affected student-athlete. Individuals must still satisfy the NCAA's age-based eligibility rule, and all other NCAA eligibility requirements—including those governing professional participation—remain in effect.
Regardless of the ultimate outcome on appeal, the case serves as another example of the legal uncertainty that continues to shape Division I athletics. Questions surrounding eligibility, roster management and institutional planning increasingly are being resolved through litigation rather than through a consistent national governance framework. Whether through federal legislation, NCAA governance or future legal decisions, institutions, conferences and student-athletes alike would benefit from greater clarity, consistency and long-term stability.
FROM MIT WINTER AT WINTER SPORTS LAW
The cost to build a competitive men’s college basketball roster continues to go up. Which means most teams need lots of third-party money to meet those costs. (LINK) Your support of Big West athletic programs whether through buying tickets, providing donations, or sponsoring/advertising are more vital now for the future success of your favorite Big West program.
THE DRAKE GROUP – THE FUTURE OF COLLEGE SPORTS GOVERNANCE
The Drake Group Education Fund is pleased to share a timely and high-level sports law webinar from Culture in Sports, titled "Culture Roundtable - Are College Sports Ungovernable?" featuring our Executive Director, Julie Sommer, alongside a distinguished panel of sports law experts, former athletic administrators, public policy scholars, and athlete advocates.
The panel examined critical governance challenges facing collegiate athletics today, including the Power 2 split, conference realignment, and widening financial disparities across institutions. The discussion addressed the NCAA’s reliance on amateurism and the consequences of governing through ongoing litigation, while evaluating federal legislative responses such as the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) and the SCORE Act. Panelists also tackled key 5x5 eligibility cases nationwide, as well as collective bargaining, athlete representation, Title IX protections, Olympic and non-revenue sports, and mounting institutional spending pressures. The conversation outlined essential principles to guide the future of college sports: meaningful participation for college athletes, equitable opportunities, sustainable financial structures, adaptable guardrails, and greater overall accountability. (LINK)
MEDIA REPORTS ON THE BIG WEST, NCAA AND LEGAL MATTERS
PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT NEWS
- The U.S. Senate adjourned on Thursday without beginning the procedure of scheduling the Protect College Sports Act for a vote next week, according to Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger, who notes lawmakers will begin a monthlong recess the following week, adding: “While the bill's chances of a vote next week are in peril, there remains a very narrow and somewhat unlikely path: Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) could still file cloture for the act on Monday evening once the Senate's session begins, potentially scheduling it for a late-week vote.” Dellenger also reports Big Ten and SEC presidents and chancellors met separately on Thursday but did not hold a formal vote on whether to agree to the legislation, “a signal that their monthslong opposition remains for legislation that they believe doesn't provide enough legal protection and doesn't close a cap circumvention loophole.” Dellenger sums it all up: “The legislation's future is now murky, at best.” (link)
- NCAA President Charlie Baker: “After speaking with conference leaders and university presidents in recent days, one thing is clear: there is overwhelming consensus that targeted intervention from Congress is necessary. I am grateful to Senators Cruz and Cantwell for making meaningful changes to strengthen this bill. This is the legislation we need now. It will grant student-athletes unprecedented academic, health, and wellness benefits, rein in out-of-control agents, and stabilize transfer, eligibility, and revenue-sharing rules. While no bill is perfect, I implore college sports leaders and Senators to support this bill now. It is our best chance to deliver the benefits and level playing field student-athletes deserve while providing the protections institutions need to sustain college athletics long-term." (link)
- Tennessee AD Danny White weighed in yesterday, telling Volquest that “I think it’s another example of why we shouldn’t be asking Congress to solve a problem that we could solve ourselves. There’s a whole lot of ulterior motives laced in that 107-page bill in the initial draft. I think there could be some healthy things that come out of it if a bill actually passes. I’m more concerned about what things are in there that cause us even more problems if it’s not going to be a total solution. And I don’t think that we’re going to get a total solution. We’re not going to get a pass on the Sherman Act like we have been asking for the last decade. It’s kind of un-American. I don’t think they’re going to do that. … With the importance of an athletic department and the presence of high level athletics on the campuses that are dealing with this the most, shame on you if you’re an athletic director or a president or chancellor and you haven’t taken the time to understand where we sit on the wrong side of antitrust law and how this can work. There’s a lot of people now that realize that that’s what we need to do. We’re just not doing it.” (link)
- As of Thursday morning, Big Ten and SEC officials hadn’t yet delivered their position to Congress on the latest revisions to the Protect College Sports Act, per Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, who notes Congressional lawmakers sent the leagues a "last and final" version of the revised bill around midnight Thursday while establishing a 10 a.m. ET deadline for the leagues to agree. One source said: “Pencils are down. This is a take it or leave it.” Here are the latest developments…
- An anonymous lobbyist directly engaged on the bill remarked: “For how many conversations we have had with the Cruz and Cantwell team, I would say we’ve made stunningly little progress.” (link)
- Dellenger reports: “The Senate has adjourned for the week. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) did not file cloture for the PCSA. The bill’s chances of a vote next week are slim now. The legislation remains in dire position ahead of a monthlong Senate recess beginning next Friday.” (link)
- In a joint meeting today, Big Ten presidents and ADs reviewed the revised PCSA but didn’t cast a vote, per Dellenger, who notes the SEC, Big 12 and ACC were scheduled to conduct separate presidents' calls around 4 p.m. ET. Dellenger adds: “A Senate staff member told Yahoo Sports that if the SEC and Big Ten choose today not to support the bill and ‘punt to September,’ that the leagues ‘will have to find new senators.’ It is an indication that Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO) are on their last gasp.” (link, link)
- In a Thursday X post, Sen. Cruz notes some conference commissioners want to bar third-party companies associated with schools from striking any and all NIL deals with student-athletes, even legitimate endorsement contracts, while contending language in the bill’s latest version creates a hard cap. Cruz: “The cap is a hard cap. Full stop. That loophole is closed. Once a school hits the cap, a player can still do NIL deals on the open market — if the deal is genuinely commercial and the school isn’t directing it. That’s the line. Some commissioners want more: bar any company doing business with a school from signing that school’s players. So a QB couldn’t sign with Nike because Nike has a separate contract with his university. That’s not protecting a cap. That’s blocking a kid from selling his own name. Every pro league works this way. If the team doesn’t direct it, the player earns it. What exactly is the objection? And we went further than anyone asked: players disclose all of their deals, and the university president AND the sponsor sign a letter certifying they stayed under the cap. Cheat, and you signed your name to it. Hard cap. Loophole closed. Players keep the right to earn what the school didn’t arrange. Those aren’t in tension — that’s the whole point.” (link)
- New revisions in the Senate bill per Dellenger: “MMR NIL deals count in cap unless MMR/third-party/school provide signed certification that the school is not the source of compensation; the retention pool moves from $20M to $22.5M (as reported yesterday); $5M women athlete pool extended to all non-rev sports; and a tampering prohibition. … The expansion provision remains mostly unchanged: Power league membership is capped at 19 schools; schools moving from one power league to another are required to operate as an independent for five years; and Notre Dame/independents/G6 programs can freely join power leagues.” (link)
MORE NEWS
- The College Football Players Association (CFBPA) announces that Stanford has become the first institution to both organize a CFBPA chapter and reach the membership threshold necessary to elect player representatives. Cardinal Football student-athletes Fisher Anderson and Ernest Cooper were selected by their peers and will now call on college football players across the country to establish CFBPA chapters on their own campuses. CFBPA Executive Director Jason Stahl: “College football players deserve a meaningful voice in the decisions that shape their athletic, academic and economic futures. As members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Stanford players should have the opportunity to collectively engage with conference leadership on issues affecting their rights and working conditions. Stanford football is the first of what the CFBPA envisions as seventeen ACC football chapters, creating the framework for conference-wide player representation and, ultimately, collective bargaining.” (link)
- Disney’s sports division, composed almost entirely of ESPN, saw its Q1 2026 operating income decline by 23% over the first quarter of 2025, offering additional evidence the business is struggling to maintain its past profits levels, per Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner. Here’s what you need to know…
- Asked by CNBC’s Alex Sherman about the network’s financial challenges, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro remarked: “We just announced this morning that ratings for the first half of 2026 were the best since 2012. So that’s in a world of cord-cutting, where fewer households are watching television, our ratings are up significantly.”
- Sherman followed up by inquiring if the rate of subscribers that are subscribing to the DTC ESPN Unlimited product was above the rate of cord-cutting? Pitaro: “Yeah, so I can’t, you know this - we don’t report our numbers publicly. So I can’t comment on that. For us, again, the important point is we’re going to judge ourselves holistically on the total number of households that are subscribing to ESPN. That means pay television, it means ESPN standalone direct-to-consumer, it also means ESPN as part of a bundle, a DTC bundle.”
- Per Lerner, it seems that, at least based on Disney’s sports segment operating income, the new app lifted the network’s finances a bit. Whether it can continue to maintain or grow its operating income into the future remains to be seen. (link)
- The Division I Women’s Soccer Oversight Committee has altered the dates for the second and third rounds of the 2026 Division I Women’s Soccer Championship to avoid contesting matches on Thanksgiving Day. Committee members believe playing on Nov. 27 (second round) and Nov. 30 (third round) will provide a better championship experience for the student-athletes, coaches and fans. (link)
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“To reach a goal you’ve never before attained, you must do things you’ve never before done.” – Credits to Richard D. Scott
One of the greatest challenges facing college athletics today is not identifying the problems. Nearly everyone agrees the current environment is increasingly difficult to sustain. The greater challenge is finding solutions that recognize the diversity of Division I institutions while preserving the educational opportunities and broad-based athletics model that have long defined intercollegiate athletics.
Whether Congress ultimately acts before the August recess or the conversation continues into the fall, one reality remains unchanged: governing college athletics through an endless cycle of litigation, conflicting state laws and uncertainty is not a sustainable long-term strategy. The decisions made in the coming months will extend far beyond governance and compliance. They will influence whether institutions across Division I can continue providing scholarship opportunities, sponsoring broad-based athletics programs and delivering life-changing educational experiences to thousands of student-athletes who otherwise might never have the opportunity to earn a college degree.
The Big West will continue advocating for thoughtful, sustainable solutions that protect student-athlete opportunities, recognize the realities facing institutions across Division I and preserve a model that allows colleges and universities to invest in scholarships, championship experiences and educational opportunities for future generations. Those opportunities remain why these conversations matter.
Have a great week.
Dan