Sens. Ted Cruz, Maria Cantwell announcing bipartisan bill aimed at stabilizing college sports

Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) are expected to announce plans Wednesday for a bipartisan college sports bill, the latest development in a multi-year effort by college sports leaders to have Congress pass legislation attempting to stabilize the industry and curb the flood of legal challenges against the NCAA and power conferences. The bill would allow the NCAA to limit transfers and eligibility, enforce a spending cap and give conferences the ability to pool their television rights.

Cruz and Cantwell, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, respectively, have been working for months toward a comprehensive bill that could potentially garner enough bipartisan support to reach 60 votes in the Senate. Their efforts intensified recently.

The unveiling of a Senate bill, named the Protect College Sports Act, comes the week after a potential vote on the SCORE Act, a separate college sports bill that originated in the U.S. House of Representatives, was canceled again due to a lack of support.

As the power conferences debate College Football Playoff expansion and roster budgets — and the Big Ten and SEC saber-rattle about self-governance — some stakeholders believe a Cruz-Cantwell bill out of the Senate is the most viable path to a college sports bill being ratified into law, at a time when the industry seems in desperate need of reform.

Details of the bill were still being finalized Wednesday, but it is expected to include a narrow antitrust exemption regarding athlete transfer and eligibility limits, which would shield the NCAA and conferences from legal challenges on rules established to regulate those areas. For example, the NCAA is expected to vote on an age-based eligibility model next month that would allow college players to compete for up to five seasons, starting the academic year after they turn 19 or graduate high school.

This story will be updated.