SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey Flags Major Legal Problem With New College Sports Bill

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey recently sent a private letter to his league’s 16 university presidents, and it completely blows the lid off a new federal college sports bill. The government is trying to pass a bipartisan law called the Protect College Sports Act, introduced by Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell, to create one big rulebook for all college sports. Although he agrees that college sports desperately need it, Sankey basically said, “Not so fast,” warning that the way the bill is written right now is a total legal trap that will land the SEC in court for years.

The biggest money mess in the bill involves how multi-billion-dollar TV broadcasting rights are handled. SEC generates $800M+ annually via its $3B ESPN deal, making it a media powerhouse.

However, the new bill proposes changes to the Sports Broadcasting Act (SBA) to officially let smaller schools and leagues pool their television rights together to help them make more cash. However, the bill does not protect top-tier leagues. That means rival conferences or outside TV networks could use sneaky legal strategies to sue the SEC and legally force them into sharing their premium TV money against their own will.

In a letter to his presidents and chancellors this week, Greg Sankey outlined revisions that the conference wants made to the Protect College Sports Act and adds that the Act “exposes the SEC to potential lawsuits forcing the conference into the media pooling.” pic.twitter.com/doLeimAPnK

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) June 13, 2026

The Protect College Sports Act tries to set up new rules for how schools can schedule games if they decide to pool their TV rights together. Greg Sankey warns that the way the rules are written is confusing and poorly designed. He says the rules could end up punishing schools if they join leagues that share money.

Because of this, there could be a serious problem: if smaller college sports conferences join together to share postseason (playoff) broadcasting rights, the law could accidentally block major conferences like the SEC and the Big Ten Conference from playing against them.

If things get worse, Sankey says that the SEC and Big Ten might feel forced to take a drastic step. They could leave the current 12-team College Football Playoff system and create their own separate playoff tournament.

Another issue is that the bill allows a “private right of action.” This means individuals can directly sue colleges in federal court. Most SEC schools, like the University of Florida and the University of Alabama, are public universities funded by state governments. Normally, they are protected by something called sovereign immunity, which makes it harder to sue them.

But this law could remove some of that protection. That means more lawsuits could be filed by players, agents, or booster groups. These lawsuits could be about things like:

1) Who gets chosen to be on a team
2) Promises that were not kept
3) Other disputes about player treatment or deals

Defending these lawsuits could cost universities millions of dollars and put serious financial pressure on their sports programs. But state law conflicts pose a second threat.

More law problems for the Commissioner

College sports leaders have been asking the U.S. government for a national law to replace the confusing mix of more than 30 different state NIL laws. They want one clear rule for everyone. The popular consensus is that some states would cut corners here by creating more athlete-friendly laws.

But this bill does not fully solve that problem. It includes a weak “preemption” rule. This means a state law is only blocked if it directly prevents schools from following the federal law. Because of this, state NIL laws could still exist and continue to confuse instead of being fully replaced. Sankey explains that this bill only overrides a state law if it physically stops a school from following the federal rules. In a way, the bill completely ignores massive everyday issues like roster tampering and sketchy recruiting tricks; those local state laws would stay active, keeping the system totally chaotic.

On top of that, the bill tells schools to follow fair market standards for these outside deals, but completely forgets to mention who actually sets or enforces those rules. The bill sets fair-market standards but names no enforcer. Sankey is also frustrated that the bill only requires schools to report player deals internally at their local campus. He argues that if college sports want real accountability, these financial disclosures must go to a single, national governing body so everyone can keep an eye on the money.

The SEC is now working together with its biggest business rival, the Big Ten, to push back against Congress. The two richest conferences in college sports are joining forces. Greg Sankey and leaders from the Big Ten Conference are creating a single, firm list of demands. They want Congress to change the bill before it reaches the final vote in the Senate Commerce Committee.

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