By Stephen Moore | Thursday, June 4, 2026
Nearly every college sports fan, myself included, knows that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has become a state of affairs in disarray. The situation has deteriorated significantly—especially in football and men’s basketball—the two sports generating the highest revenues.
Elite athletes now operate as free agents, selling their services annually to the highest bidder. With team rosters changing every year, institutional loyalty is virtually nonexistent. This system has effectively turned college teams into professional entities competing within leagues that are increasingly commercialized.
In some cases, players earn professional salaries while maintaining “amateur” status—a distinction the NCAA exploits. During my time at the University of Illinois, last year’s basketball team—dominated by European athletes—advanced to the Final Four. We joked it was the “University of Serbia.” Yet the games remain as popular as ever.
I believe it is both proper and correct that student-athletes should be compensated for generating tens of millions in revenue for their universities. The current system, however, has become unsustainable.
A new Senate bill—the Cantwell-Cruz “Protect College Sports Act”—is marketed as a compromise to save college athletics. Yet its federal mandates are intrusive, unworkable, and potentially ruinous.
The bill leverages antitrust laws to force conferences like the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, and Atlantic Coast Conference into compliance. It requires more than 150 pages of complex rules governing media negotiations, revenue sharing, local broadcast access, conference transactions, and even the college football calendar.
For example, it extends broadcast restrictions for professional football games from the second Friday in September through the second Saturday in December to the first Friday in September through the third Saturday in December. It mandates that schools play at least two traditional rivalry games every four years and one annual game against a historically significant opponent.
The bill also dictates when college and professional football games can be played, orders specific television broadcasts on particular networks at set times, and restricts conference realignment. Critics argue it aims to stifle the growth of the Big Ten and SEC while failing to address core issues like athlete compensation and competitive balance.
This year, Indiana University—a team historically among the lower divisions in college football—won the championship by strategically recruiting undervalued players. Such tactics are now common as broadcast contracts reach into the billions.
For fans, the current system works: nearly every major football game is available on multiple cable outlets, and basketball games air across several networks throughout the week. The Protect College Sports Act would transform college athletics into a fully regulated utility, undermining the competitive spirit that defines these sports.
The bill’s proposals—such as Congress determining Ohio State’s schedule—are emblematic of an overreach that should not be tolerated. True reform requires treating athletic revenues like professional sports teams, subjecting them to taxation and oversight by the NCAA and conferences—not politicians in Washington.
Stephen Moore is a former Trump senior economic adviser and co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, which advocates for education freedom for all children.
