How the reworked Protect College Sports Act could affect USF and American Conference

I would imagine there are many athletic directors in the American Conference who choked on their Grape Nuts this morning. The latest developments in the Protect College Sports Act have potentially damaging ramifictions for many of the programs in USF's conference.

Yahoo Sports broke the news that the amount of money schools can directly pay athletes under the bill will rise that from $21.3 million to $48.8 million. That was a key demand from the SEC and Big Ten, which had been withholding support for the legislation. In exchange, restrictions will be tightened on schools that ignore the cap.

That's great for mega programs like Ohio State, LSU, Florida, and the rest of the power conference programs. But many of the teams in the American were already well below the $21.3 million threshold and could have problems reaching even the modest goals under the American's Minimum Investment Program.

It established that every conference athletic department must distribute at least $10 million in additional benefits and direct revenue sharing to athletes over a three-year period.

USF, by the way, said it would invest to the $21.3 million limit. Memphis joins the Bulls as the only American programs spending to the limit. UAB, Florida Atlantic, and North Texas were reportedly well under the minimum floor but have ramped up their fund-raising. The reworked bill also appears to have removed language that would prohibit the power conferences from adding new members.

USF could still be in position to join one of those leagues if expansion or realignment occurs.

With this new development, more schools may be re-evaluating what their athletic departments can be.

The aim of this bill, allegedly, is to tighten restrictions on programs that basically ignored restrictions on what they could pay athletes (looking at you, LSU) by wheeling and dealing with boosters in the NIL lane. Language in this bill would tighten restrictions for NIL and sponsorship money, but you can bet some programs will still figure out ways to get around that.

The reworked legislation still has some hurdles to clear.

So far, it has only passed a U.S. Senate committee. The full Senate has to vote and, if approved, it goes to the U.S. House. If it is approved there, it goes to the President's desk for his signature.

There are items in the bill designed to protect women's and non-revenue sports, but the biggest impact will be on football and men's basketball. And that potential impact could keep USF's Athletics CEO Rob Higgins awake at night (not that he sleeps much anyway).

While USF has made an enormous investment in athletics, it's unclear if the Bulls have an extra $25 million or so in between the couch cushions.

The NCAA's new rule limiting athletes to five years of eligibility will remain in place, and the bill should reduce traffic in the Transfer Portal. Athletes will be guaranteed one transfer without losing eligibility, but after that it gets more difficult.

In a recent conversation with Green, Gold and Bold, Higgins said the current situation in college athletics is "very broken."

He blamed some of that on non-qualified individuals hoping to cash in by duping athletes to go into the portal.

"I think there are a lot of people that are in this for their own reasons, and they have agendas that are self-driven and don't have the student athlete's best interest in mind," he said.

"I'm not saying that every one is like that. There are a lot of great agents out there. Those are the same agents that would be in favor of certification."

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