Game-Changing College Reform Bill Set to Unlock Billions by Shaking Up TV Rights Deals—What’s Next?

Never before have the collegiate athletic corridors buzzed with such audacious legislative ambition as Sen. Maria Cantwell’s latest gambit to reshape the landscape of college sports media rights. This isn’t just another bill gathering dust on Capitol Hill — it’s a bold attempt to rewrite a dusty 1961 statute that’s been shackling college conferences from banding together to market their media rights collectively. Cantwell’s Student Athlete Fairness and Enforcement Act aims to level the playing field, safeguarding athletes, bolstering Olympic and women’s sports, and curbing the spiraling cost maze that threatens smaller leagues amid the escalating frenzy of name-image-likeness deals. If you’re wondering how this might recalibrate the dizzying dynamics between the “Power 2” conferences and the rest of college athletics — well, you’re not alone. It’s also about reimagining revenue streams, community connections, and the very fabric of competition as we know it. Hold tight, because this proposal might just reshape the college sports universe, inject fairness, and keep dreams alive for athletes beyond the spotlight. LEARN MORE.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is proposing a bill that would rewrite a 1961 law prohibiting college sports conferences from banding together to sell their media rights, a move she says is designed to protect athletes, Olympics sports and smaller leagues that could be getting priced out of the increasingly expensive business of name-image-likeness deals.

Cantwell, the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee that deals with college sports, said she will introduce the Student Athlete Fairness and Enforcement Act on Tuesday to give lawmakers an alternative to a bill on the House side that has yet to come up for a floor vote.

“We take a broader approach of: How do we solve the fundamental problem of implementing NIL rights, but also keeping revenue for women’s and Olympic sports and an environment where everyone feels like they can compete?” Cantwell said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. “And we’re maximizing for consumers and the public the amount of content available.”

Conferences currently sell their media rights separately, with the Big Ten, for instance, distributing around $958 million to its schools from the proceeds while the Big 12 number is at around $558 million — a 52.7% difference. All conferences are part of the $7.8 billion ESPN deal for the College Football Playoff, though the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference get more money from it.

Cantwell has previously said she wants to prevent college sports from turning into a “Power 2,” featuring those leagues, with everyone else contending for scraps.

Under terms of the landmark House antitrust settlement, schools as of July 1 are allowed to share up to 22% of their revenues — or around $20.5 million — from TV and other proceeds to pay players for their NIL during this school year.

It has left some in the non “Power 2” conferences wondering how they can draw top talent in football and basketball — the main revenue drivers — while maintaining smaller sports that form the pipeline for the teams America sends to the Olympics.

Cantwell’s proposal, which would offer schools the same antitrust protection it does for the NFL and other pro leagues regarding their TV rights, is what billionaire Texas Tech regents chair Cody Campbell has proposed, going as far as running 30-second TV ads devoted to the topic on college football broadcasts.

“I think he thinks this is a way to even out the resources among all schools so that we can still have ‘Any Given Saturday,’” Cantwell said.

Investors have floated ideas of super leagues, estimating it could drive up to a $15 billion increase in revenue.

Cantwell positions her bill as an alternative to the SCORE Act, which started with momentum but has recently stalled on the House side. Three key elements to that bill included provisions granting the NCAA limited antitrust protection, prohibiting athletes from becoming employees of their schools and pre-empting state laws with a larger federal law.

Cantwell’s bill keeps the pre-emption idea but does not include the other two.

It also offers strengthened protections for athletes from losing scholarships or health care. It would limit the number of times an athlete could transfer schools to two. It would give the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general authority to go after parties who violate rules written to oversee third-party collectives that now fund and oversee many of the NIL deals.

The bill calls for football and basketball games to not be behind a paywall in local markets, a provision similar to how the NFL operates and that National Association of Broadcasters president Curtis LeGeyt said would strengthen ’the unique connection between universities, their communities and the student-athletes who inspire them.”

The bill would also call on schools to use extra revenue generated from the new pooled media rights to maintain scholarships and roster spots for Olympic and women’s sports at the same or greater levels than they were in 2023-24.

“We’re trying to be creative in how we can help some of these non-revenue sports grow in the future,” Cantwell said.