The Protect College Sports Act's updated text, released Thursday night, softened the language around conference realignment, making it easier for programs to move from one power conference to another, as TV contracts among the power conferences are set to expire in the early 2030s. Most of the bill's text from early August remained, but the most noticeable tweak made public Thursday concerned conference expansion and realignment, which was initially designed to effectively freeze membership. The update weakened the text and now includes a six-year expiration window for schools in the power conferences to move freely without a waiting period.
Senate voted 77-22 on Thursday to move the Protect College Sports Act toward debate and possible final passage next week. The bill still faces hurdles if it passes through the Senate next week, most notably midterm elections. Growing doubt now suggests the bill won't be considered on the House floor before November.
The major sections in the updated text remained, including the $22.5 million retention fund for schools, to be combined with its revenue-sharing cap, set at $21.6 million for the 2026-27 academic year. But there were some important tweaks elsewhere, including the section on conference realignment that the power conferences pushed back on this summer. Here's a breakdown of what changed in the bill's updated text: The bill's most significant changes Thursday touched on conference realignment.
Initially, the bill required a school to serve a five-year probationary period as an independent before joining another power conference. The update dropped that number to three years as an independent or a member of a conference earning less than $700 million annually in revenue. The most striking update: the provision expires after six years.
That means any program six years after the bill's passage can leave a power conference (or any conference with $700 million in annual revenue) for another without serving a mandatory three-year buffer period outside of a power conference. Conferences remain capped at 19 members, giving the Big Ten room for one more program and the SEC up to three new members. The bill contains a second, broader prohibition that the new text leaves intact, which appears to primarily target outside forces, such as private equity groups, from building a super league.
Nobody, including outside investors, can buy up power-conference schools to build a breakaway league. A school that leaves the SEC is off limits to league builders for five years, and that rule never sunsets. The bill still faces hurdles and must pass the Senate and then the House, but if the President signs it into law, the six-year realignment provision would end around 2032 or 2033.
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