A revised copy was sent to the SEC and B1G at the midnight hour, and they have 25 minutes left to respond to proposed changes.
A 10 a.m. ET deadline has been set for the conferences to sign off on the bill. The two conferences were not involved in the drafting of the bill when it was initially released earlier this summer.
“If this thing doesn’t happen, it’s 100% on them,” a source told On3. “These Senators and everybody else has bent over backwards for them.”
The Senate is only days away from its month-long summer recess, which would put Division I universities with the same patchwork of state laws to operate from as the college football season kicks off.
This comes after Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell made concessions on Tuesday and Wednesday to get the legislation’s wording to meet the Big Ten and SEC. Among the concessions that have been made are an additional $25 million pool for player retention, entities cannot acquire media rights to create a new conference and a prohibition of compensation to recruits before enrollment.
“Major concessions were made overnight,” a source told On3 on Wednesday. “At this point, with every passing minute, odds are slimmer that we can move the bill before the August recess. We’ve been working night and day to make the revisions they said they needed, and we need an answer. That wasn’t a superficial deadline. There’s a lot that goes into passing legislation – a lot of work behind the scenes and it just takes time.
“The Big Ten and SEC have been in the loop throughout the entire process – they’re familiar with the bill text and the changes we’ve discussed.”
I think I know how the final decision will be made, if I’m being honest:
I wonder if they’ll ask Pope Bevacqua at Notre Dame for a final blessing, too?
Doesn’t everyone remember when they asked you before they passed a Bill?
Ffs. If they think its a good law why do they need these administrators, who fucked it all up in the first place, to bless it?
Hint: It starts with an “M” and rhymes with “honey.”
Politicians vs. Conference Presidents
In the words of Henry Kissinger, “it’s a pity they both can’t lose.”
Lovely. Post of the day.
Lol, hang the picture in the Louvre or at least the Helen, GA equivalent
Hmmm.
It seems that the SEC and B1G are generally going to get what they desire … the ability to opt out of the media rights pooling provision, the ability to expand if they want, and the ability to have retention money on top of the current House settlement. They will keep an outside party from swooping in to form a super league.
One of the articles I read about the revision indicates the Congressional Black Caucus is not going to support the bill. If the SEC supports the bill, does that mean our senators split their support and the Georgia CBC members vote against final passage?
I didn’t write that to open this up for a Playpen kind of argument. I’m just curious.
I’m a retire lawyer, this bill will do nothing but get attacked and end up in court for years. In fact the only ones that hope this bill gets past are the sports lawyers.
Is there an antitrust exemption? If so, doesn’t that shut all of the attacks down?
This is a biological oddity, a dead body with two a–holes!
God help us all.
This is the least excited I have ever been in my almost 50 years of being a fan going into the college football season. This bill even if it passes does nothing to stoke my fire. I’ll still watch but not with the same intensity.