The legislation is the latest attempt to set a national standard for the rules of college sports on issues from eligibility to compensation.
Page S2From§Eachthe early evening edition — 15 September 2026
Senate advances college sports bill despite sponsor booed live on ESPN, backed by $31 million in lobbying.
Hot Mic Moment
Follow the money on this one: $31 million in lobbying bought a bill that shields the NCAA from antitrust court the same week its own sponsor got booed pitching it on national television, and both parties signed on anyway — Cruz, Republican of Texas, Cantwell, Democrat of Washington. Somebody get this to the political desk, because Congress just proved a bill can survive getting booed live on ESPN as long as the check clears first.
Gushis side
GUS: This reporter is pleased to report the United States Senate voted Tuesday to advance the Protect College Sports Act, a bill so beloved by the American sports fan that its own lead sponsor was hoisted on the shoulders of adoring young fans at ESPN's College GameDay last Saturday in Austin.
GUS: Regardless, this reporter notes the bill's heft: national NIL rules, transfer-portal limits, a five-year eligibility clock, and full antitrust protection for the NCAA — financed, this reporter understands, by a tidy thirteen million dollars from the concerned citizens of the lobbying industry.
GUS: This reporter, ever chivalrous, will note the young ladies of college athletics needn't trouble their heads over these revenue-sharing caps — such figures are best left to the young men doing the actual negotiating with boosters.
Trudyher side
Nobody hoisted Ted Cruz anywhere. The Hill and the Washington Examiner both filed Saturday afternoon: Cruz got jeered pitching this very bill to Rece Davis on live television. "Adoring" is your word. "Booed" is theirs.
Thirty-one million, Gus. The Hill had it September 10th: interest groups spent $31 million lobbying Congress on the Cruz-Cantwell bill. You lost eighteen million dollars somewhere between here and the podium.
The bill doesn't share your math. The Hill's own text says the revenue-sharing caps and the antitrust shield cover college athletes, full stop — no separate column for who's supposed to worry about it.
Gus, the mic's hot and so are you — go lie down. But he's right that the money crossed the aisle: The Hill's September 10th filing names both sponsors, Cruz and Cantwell, on that same $31 million bill. Broken clock, sugar.
“They spent thirty-one million bucks so a senator could stand at midfield and get booed to his face, then passed the bill anyway — that boo wasn't a review, it was theater, because the vote wasn't up to the crowd. The money bought the antitrust shield for the NCAA, not a raise for the kid selling his own jersey number. When lobbying outvotes the stands, the stands weren't the electorate to begin with.”
“Look, this is a bipartisan bill — Cruz and Cantwell, right and left, both signed off — so obviously it's just good governance cleaning up the transfer portal wild west, not some lobbying favor. Sure, interest groups spent a little money making sure Congress understood the issue, that's called civic engagement, not... okay, thirty-one million is a lot for "civic engagement." Did I say that? That doesn't sound like me.”
The receipts
The Senate voted Tuesday to advance the Protect College Sports Act, which would create national rules for compensating college athletes, limit transfers and mid-season coaching moves, and set a five-year window for athletic eligibility, among other reforms. It would protect the NCAA — the college athletics governing body — from…
The Protect College Sports Act targets name, image and likeness (NIL) rules, transfer portal limits and a revenue sharing cap in the Senate.
· Cruz faces rowdy crowd at College GameDay while promoting the Protect College Sports Act from the morgue, 12 Sep 2026
· Cruz met with jeers on ESPN's College Gameday during appearance advocating for Senate college sports bill from the morgue, 12 Sep 2026
· Interest groups spend $31 million lobbying Congress on Cruz, Cantwell college sports bill from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.