Schmitt feels optimistic on upcoming vote for Protect College Sports Act

U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told reporters Thursday that he feels “pretty good” about an upcoming Senate vote for the Protect College Sports Act that he is co-sponsoring.

The bill would aim to bring stability and an equal playing field to rules regarding eligibility, transfers, revenue sharing and other issues that have caused chaos in college athletics over recent years.

The bill failed to reach a vote in an all-night session that ended Aug. 8 that the Senate held ahead of its five-week recess. However, the bill did gain an early spot on the Senate’s list once it returns from the recess Sept. 14.

“We’re going to be the second bill up when we get back in September,” Schmitt said, “and it’s possible the first bill may not have the votes to move forward. We think that we do.”

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz has stated his support for the bill, thanking Schmitt for his work on it.

“This bill, while not perfect, does provide some clarity and some roadmap for success in the future, and I appreciate the very hard work that they have put in to try to create some sort of consensus and some sort of rules that will help move college athletics forward,” Drinkwitz said in a press conference Aug. 2. ... “It is a long and hard road that we have been fighting for seven years. And so for there to be some sort of light at the end of the tunnel, I sure appreciate their hard work in trying to help make that happen.”

Schmitt met with Drinkwitz on Thursday at Memorial Stadium. Schmitt also took a tour with athletic director Laird Veatch of the stadium’s $250 million renovation project on the north end zone facilities.

“(MU has) been supportive of (the bill),” Schmitt said. ... “I think it’ll be a good thing for the University of Missouri. It’ll be good for the 500,000 student-athletes we see across the country.”

One of the most significant changes that the proposed bill would bring would be a rule where student-athletes are only allowed one “unrestricted” transfer. Any further transfers would cause the player to sit out for a season. The bill would also increase the revenue-sharing cap for teams from $21.3 million to $48.8 million, a jump that would include a $22.5 million pool dedicated to retaining returning players.

The bill would aim to create antitrust exemptions for the NCAA, preventing courts from undermining rules surrounding eligibility and roster limits that the NCAA has struggled to maintain.

After the NCAA approved the age-based eligibility model in June, a judge in Colorado issued a temporary restraining order for student-athletes in the high school class of 2022 against the NCAA. This cut against the NCAA’s original intent to not have the age-based eligibility model be retroactive for players whose eligibility expired under the former model.

“The truth is, Congress is the only entity that can give antitrust protection for rules to be enforced, and that’s really what this is all about,” Schmitt said.

Schmitt and the bill’s supporters hope that the bill would also help preserve the retention of funding for Olympic sports, which has been threatened with athletic programs having to cut back in order to remain competitive in spending on rosters for other sports, primarily for football and men’s basketball. Several Division I programs cut their tennis programs in the 2025-26 school year, including Saint Louis and Arkansas.

“There’s a big problem happening across the country right now, and it’s really going to knock out the ability, I think, for women to compete and Olympic sports to have their rightful place in college athletics,” Schmitt said.

The bill will need to receive a 60-vote margin in order to pass the Senate and move forward to the House of Representatives. The bill struggled to gain support from the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten until late July after months of discussion. Before the support of those two conferences, the bill’s chances seemed significantly hampered by objections from senators. The stalling of the Senate vote date could create more roadblocks.