The House is nearing a floor vote on college sports legislation, though it might be three yards and a cloud of dust when it comes to actually writing a law.
House Republicans have readied the SCORE Act for possible floor action in September, right as college football season hits its stride, aiming to formalize the name, image, and likeness structure used to compensate student athletes and provide the NCAA with some antitrust protections.
The House can pass that bill with a simple majority, but getting 60 votes in the Senate might require going deeper into the playbook. The top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, is telling college presidents the bill erodes athletes’ legal protections and “will incentivize a Power 2 conference system that will create inequities for other conferences and leave behind small to mid-sized schools.”