An amendment to the Protect College Sports Act, proposed by U.S. Senator Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), would allow schools to seek a home in another conference that would trigger the current five-year probation provision otherwise. If this amendment were to be added to the bill and then became law, a ticking clock would begin, and the schools would most certainly begin to jump ship.
That ticking clock is 180 days from the very moment that President Trump signs the bill into law. Any schools that are unhappy with their current conference would seek asylum elsewhere.
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In its current iteration, the 116-page bill does away with conference realignment. Conferences that generate revenue of $700 million are prohibited from merging with another power conference or adding new schools to their roster.
This amendment is a jet sweep around that provision.
Other aspects of the bill include:
Five years of eligibility to be completed in five years
A cap on revenue sharing-may cost athletes millions if the cap is not raised. This could trigger many lawsuits.
Schools from the Big 12 and the ACC would line up for admittance into the Power 2, which is widely considered to be the SEC and the Big Ten. Senator Moody’s amendment proposal would significantly affect two schools in her home state: Miami and Florida State.
Currently, if Florida State wanted to leave the ACC, it must notify the league office in writing on or before June 1 of the preceding year to receive permission to leave the conference on June 30 of the next year.
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The cost of leaving the ACC? $129 million. Florida State was one of seven ACC schools that did not support this legislation. The SEC and Big Ten also do not support this bill.
The SEC is the most logical destination for Florida State. The Seminoles are already in the conference footprint, with arch-rival Florida, which is one of the most heated rivalries in college football. They have played each other every season since 1958, except for the 2020 COVID season, when the SEC played a conference-only schedule.
From a recruiting standpoint, Florida State’s move to the SEC would be a no-brainer. With the State of Florida being one of the big three recruiting hotbeds in the country, the potential to sign with an SEC school would considerably up the stakes for the Seminoles.
With the 180-day clock and an enhanced sense of urgency, Florida State would have serious competition from other schools to join the SEC, one being potentially Texas Tech. With this proposed amendment, you can bet university officials in the ACC and Big 12 are already in talks regarding this game-changing issue.
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No school wants to be left behind in a cannibalized conference, a fate suffered by the once-powerful PAC-12. Just ask Washington State and Oregon State. So, the catchphrase or mantra going forward could be “get out while the getting is good.”
Of course, one thing that could delay, and probably will, the passage of this bill with or without the proposed amendment is the August recess for all federal lawmakers. That recess began Friday at the close of business.
It has been mentioned on sports talk radio, including SiriusXM Channel 84, that President Trump was hopeful that lawmakers would give up their weekend, stay in Washington, and pass the Protect College Sports Act. But, the level of skepticism that this happens is high.
The college football landscape has been forever changed. The traditionalists of the sport have been left in shock. University presidents and administrators better have that sense of urgency to act and to act quickly, or get left behind on the scrap heap of a once-proud Power Four conference.
