A Senate-bound bill proposed by Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) brings much-needed change to the college sports world, but a new provision could tether members to the Big 12 Conference outright.
Should it become law, the bill’s “anti-super league” provision freezes conference membership for any league earning $700 million (previously $1 billion) in total revenue. The provision automatically applies to the ACC, Big 12 and SEC, according to Yahoo Sports insider Ross Dellenger. The Big 12 is on pace to record $710 million in gross revenue for 2026.
The bipartisan bill drops the hammer on the realignment that reshaped the Power Four at the turn of the decade, and includes several pieces of legislation aimed at taming some of the Wild West landscape in terms of eligibility and coaching moves. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark already threw his support behind the bill before Thursday’s vote.
The Big Ten and SEC, however, responded to the bill with the following joint statement:
Should it pass the Senate and then the House, the Big 12 would presumably be locked at 16 members without the ability to add a program like Louisville or Memphis should the conference ever entertain expansion again.
The key tenets of the Save College Sports Act include:
• Five years of eligibility becomes the standard and applies to any pending legal cases of athlete eligibility, including those granted additional years.
• One-time transfer allotted to student-athletes without penalty. Additional transfer requests would then require an athlete to sit out for one full year of competition.
• Prohibits coaches from leaving for another school before that team’s season has ended.
The bill also creates a world where FBS conferences may voluntarily pool and negotiate their media rights, but only with 75% participation (at least 104 schools) to trigger the opt-in measure. This becomes especially crucial in a world where conferences aren’t able to expand or merge due to the proposed revenue provision.
That mess aside, the bill brings instant change to the transfer portal and restores some sanity to the recruiting trail, as coaches can once again reliably recruit talent without the limitless transfer rule decimating their rosters. Obviously, a one-time transfer still creates some volatility, but it also once again places that one-time-only value on the decision to transfer.
The coaching provision (i.e., the Lane Kiffin rule) also brings some stability to those programs vulnerable to the sharks of the world. Considering the deal Ole Miss got, this provision isn’t entirely surprising and long overdue.
So what’s next? Merely reaching the Senate floor is a big deal, and should it secure a 60-vote majority, it’d then have to go toe-to-toe with the House, which could see the bill take anywhere from a few weeks to several months to reach a decision. This is the first legislation of its kind to go this far, and it’s got bipartisan support backing its path onto the Senate floor.
