Changes could be coming to college sports that impact Missouri schools and student athletes.
Missouri U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt is backing a bipartisan bill aimed at setting new rules around transfers and eligibility. Schmitt says the goal is to bring more stability to college athletics.
“The ability to have some rules like a one-time transfer, five years of eligibility, those sorts of things," Schmitt says. "The NCAA can't really do any of that now because over the course of 10 years in litigation, they've been neutered. I mean, they can't enforce any rules. So, this would give them antitrust protection.”
Schmitt says a bipartisan bill would let conferences pool media rights to boost revenue.
“You got women's sports, Olympic sports that are on the chopping block now because the economics have changed. All those resources are going to college football. There's nothing left for the other sports," Schmitt explains. "And so, you're starting to see those sports go away. We want to try to stop that, to open up some different revenue options for conferences to pool their media rights, to be voluntary.”
Schmitt points to the NBA, which has about half the viewers of college football but billions more in revenue.
“So college football, those conferences could come together voluntarily and negotiate. You would see billions of new revenue. That would be part of it set aside for just sports that don't generate any revenue at all, but we want to protect like gymnastics," Schmitt says. "Otherwise, what's going to happen is you're going to have a football program and then maybe to comply with Title IX, you'll have another women's program and that'll be it."
Schmitt says the Protect College Sports Act, backed by Democrats Maria Cantwell and Chris Coons, would also set limits on transfers and eligibility and restore the NCAA’s ability to enforce those rules. It’s also backed by Democrats Maria Cantwell and Chris Coons of Delaware.
Missourinet