College sports needs real change, not just more government help

The big sports leagues aren’t happy with a new Senate bill meant to "fix" college sports. The bill, called the Protect College Sports Act, tries to help the NCAA and its members with problems they created themselves. For years, these schools worked together to make rules that kept players from getting paid for the money they bring in. But now, two of the biggest leagues, the Big Ten and SEC, say the bill doesn’t solve the real issues. They argue the bill is too weak on things like transfer rules and player pay, and it might even make things worse by adding more confusion. They want Congress to work with them instead of forcing a one-size-fits-all solution. Behind the scenes, the NCAA and its members have a long history of avoiding fair pay for players. They’ve spent decades acting like businesses while treating athletes like amateurs who can’t share in the profits. Now, they’re asking Congress for special help—basically, a break from the rules that every other business has to follow. The Senate says the courts are causing chaos, but that’s not the whole story. Courts have been forcing the NCAA to follow the law, something it should have done all along. Instead of fixing their mistakes, they want Congress to rewrite the rules so they can keep doing things their way.There’s a better way forward, and it starts with treating players as employees. Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has suggested this idea before, calling for honest talks about collective bargaining. If schools and leagues want to avoid antitrust problems, they could make players official employees and negotiate with them fairly. But the power players in college sports don’t want that. They’d rather keep control over the money while avoiding responsibility. The idea of them asking for government help to keep their outdated system alive is pretty ironic. They’ve built a system where they profit off players but don’t want to share the wealth. The real chaos isn’t from the courts—it’s from the schools themselves. They’ve created a system where players generate billions but get almost nothing in return. Now, they’re scrambling to find a fix while avoiding the one solution that could actually work: giving players a real voice. Instead of running to Congress for favors, they should focus on treating athletes fairly. The current mess wasn’t made by judges—it was made by the schools that refused to play by the rules for decades.