To Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell, the Protect College Sports Act represents a positive federal intervention to address inconsistencies in college football, but to some conferences and their officials, it poses a serious obstacle to their financial systems and structures. Reaffirming the SEC’s stance on the bill, the SEC commissioner has emphasized the possibility that the conference could break away from the NCAA if the bill becomes law.

“They’re real. People have talked about that. They’ve got a point about the frustrations that bring them to the point of saying we should do something significantly different. They do not believe that is a leverage point. I think that’s just a honest communication. I would refer that staying in a meeting room or have a video conference,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said during the SEC Media Days.

“Those comments represent a high level of frustration at the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We have regulated ourselves more aggressively than other colleagues by choice. Across our league, we have had different academic eligibility restrictions in the past, and we’ve had different transfer restrictions in the past. So, some of the work in here comes out of a culture that we can regulate ourselves.”

College football fans and analysts have held polarized views on the Protect College Sports Act. While legendary Alabama head coach Nick Saban supports the bill and testified before the Senate, college football analyst Paul Finebaum does not see it as a possibility. The aspects that address the eligibility issues facing the NCAA and the transfer portal have been well-received. However, its views on some other areas have been a source of contention.

The SEC and the Big 10, particularly, are against the bill’s stance on media rights. The bipartisan federal bill proposes that conferences and colleges be allowed to collectively pool and negotiate their television and broadcast media rights, as the NFL does through its revenue-sharing model. The SEC is frowning on the proposal due to their bumper TV deals, which would be heavily affected if the PCSA were enforced.

Threats from the SEC to break away also seem like an attempt to make the move before the PCSA ruins any future attempt. The bill includes an anti-merger rule that prevents big conferences, like the SEC and Big Ten, from breaking away to form a Super League. The rule targets conferences that generate over a billion dollars annually by buying or merging with other companies. Though the ACC and the Big 12 have yet to cross the billion-dollar mark, projections show they will surpass it in the coming years.

Behind PCSA’s media rights proposal is an attempt to support smaller, non-revenue sports and Olympic sports. The idea is that a portion of the pooled television revenue will be distributed to support these sports.

NCAA President on SEC breaking away

The NCAA has been on the receiving end of several lawsuits from players and has gradually watched its governing power over college sports diminish year after year. As a result, the governing body is firmly behind the PCSA, hoping to restore its powers over players and programs. The NCAA president, Charlie Baker, was more concerned about the difficulty a possible breakaway would pose to the national championship system.

“I think the possibility of trying to figure out some way to determine what really has to be a national standard to have national championships. What you probably could do at a conference level, because it doesn’t necessarily affect our ability to run national championships on a level playing field, could be one way to think about it,” Baker said during a July 5 interview on Face the Nation with Ed O’Keefe when asked about the chances of having an independent SEC.

The Georgia Bulldogs have been very vocal about the breakaway, with head coach Kirby Smart and president Jere Morehead advocating for it. Regardless, Baker is holding onto his relationships with the officials of some SEC giants, who he believes would oppose the notion and remain where they are.