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Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman statement for SEC on Protect College Sports Act

Presidents and chancellors from SEC schools met virtually with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) on June 9 to discuss the Protect College Sports Act, a proposed bill seeking to regulate college athletics.

University of Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman, chair of the presidents and chancellors of the SEC, said the conversation was “productive” and pledged the league will “work in the spirit of cooperation” with the senators to refine the legislation moving forward.

“The Presidents and Chancellors of the Southeastern Conference sincerely appreciate the opportunity to meet today with Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Maria Cantwell regarding the Protect College Sports Act,” Plowman said in a statement released by the conference. “This was a productive dialogue that enabled us to directly address the common views shared by our member universities, while also recognizing the positive elements of the bill working to establish greater stability in college sports.”

The Protect College Sports Act is a bill co-sponsored by Cruz and Cantwell specifically targeting issues like player compensation, eligibility, transfers and media rights.

“We are particularly encouraged that today’s conversation affirmed a shared understanding of what will be required to secure a sustainable future for college sports, delivering the stability and certainty that our student-athletes deserve and our fans want,” Plowman continued. “We share a common goal of supporting student-athletes, universities, athletic programs, and the millions of fans who make college athletics such an important part of communities across the country.

What's in the Protect College Sports Act?

The bill proposes that college athletes would have a maximum of five years of eligibility and could only transfer once before having to miss a season, also banning all professional athletes from participating in college athletics. It attempts to set a player compensation cap and would provide additional legal protection to the NCAA and College Sports Commission to regulate name, image and likeness payments that don’t have a valid business purpose.

The bill also leaves the option for conferences to pool their media rights. It addresses the possibility of a breakaway “super league” composed of SEC and Big Ten schools by preventing any league with over $1 billion in annual revenue from merging with another.

Among other issues mentioned in the bill, coaches would be prohibited from leaving their teams before the season concludes and schools wouldn’t be allowed to hire them before the end of the season, which Cruz has called the “Lane Kiffin Rule.”

The SEC and Big Ten previously released a joint statement on June 2 stating they did not support the bill as constituted since it “leaves critical issues unresolved."

“As conversations continue, we look forward to working together to ensure federal legislation includes a consistent national framework, appropriate rulemaking authority, safeguards against unnecessary litigation, and effective alignment with the House settlement’s revenue-sharing model,” Plowman said on June 9. “We are confident that, through continued collaboration, these priorities can be addressed in a way that supports the long-term success of college athletics and protects the opportunities and experiences that make college sports so meaningful.

“We pledge to work in the spirit of cooperation with Senators Cruz and Cantwell, their staffs, SEC leadership, and members of Congress to refine this important legislation in the interest of securing the future of college sports for the benefit of all student athletes.”

Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Donde Plowman on behalf of SEC about Protect College Sports Act

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