Louisiana Senator John Kennedy expresses concerns as Protect College Sports Act passes in U.S. Senate, 77-22

Senator JOHN KENNEDY (courtesy of John Kennedy/Facebook)

The Senate has passed the Protect College Sports Act. Among other things, it codifies an athlete’s right to earn NIL money, establishes a five-year eligibility window with one transfer allowed without needing to sit out a season, requires agent registration with states and caps conference sizes to 20 schools — up from 19 thanks to the adoption of an amendment last night.

The vote was 77-22. John Kennedy ultimately voted in favor of the bill, but he did express some concerns on the Senate floor – specifically saying that it’s heavily tilted in favor of the schools.

“If you look at this bill from 35,000 feet, what it really does is exempt colleges and universities and the NCAA from the antitrust laws,” Kennedy noted.

Kennedy says an antitrust exemption puts undue limitations on student athletes’ potential earning ability.

“If we give the NCAA and we give the colleges and universities an exemption from the antitrust laws, it’s going to cap the amount that these athletes can make,” Kennedy explained.

Kennedy says imposing what would essentially be a salary cap on student athletes would be unfair, especially given the millions of dollars a year that some coaches make each year.

Kennedy says as originally drafted, the Protect College Sports Act left out one important group of people.

“The athletes win, the coaches win, the colleges and the universities win. What’s wrong with this picture? Who makes this all possible? The fans!” Kennedy exclaimed.

So Kennedy offered an amendment to cap ticket price hikes to 4% each year – an amendment that required 60 votes to be adopted. It failed to achieve even a simple majority, getting only 42 votes, so it was not adopted.

Louisiana’s other senator, Bill Cassidy, also voted yes. The Protect College Sports Act now advances to the House, where it faces an uncertain future. The House is in recess until after the midterm election, so the last chance it has of taking up the bill would be in the lame-duck session of the current Congress.