USF could be unfairly affected by the Protect College Sports Act

A U.S. Senate committee just gave USF and other programs with the hope of moving to a power conference a moment of concern. Not a freakout at the moment, but definitely something to mobilize against and monitor closely.

The Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee advanced the Protect College Sports Act to the Senate floor by a 19-9 bipartisan vote. Without getting too deep in the weeds, if passed the bill would address NIL issues, protect Olympic sports, women's sports, and some other stuff.

But there's a part of the bill that, if passed, would freeze the memberships of the Power 4 conferences. That is designed to prevent the creation of a so-called Super League between the Big Ten and SEC, but theoretically it could also leave programs like USF stuck in the American Confernce forever.

Now wait just a doggone minute!

USF's leadership isn't spending more than $350 million on a new stadium set to open in 2027 just to have home games with the likes of UAB, Rice, Charlotte in perpetuity, The plan is to run with the big boys and this bill could chill that ambition.

Now, Bulls fans ....

Inhale.

Exhale.

Just because this bill is headed to the Senate floor is no guarantee it would pass in its current form. There can be amendments and changes, and even then it might not garner the 60 votes needed to pass. The U.S. House also would have to approve, and that's questionable at best. Last year, a bill called the SCORE Act made it through House committees but never got to the floor for a vote.

The clock is ticking, too. You may have heard that there are things called midterm elections coming up. Members of the Senate and House will be focused more on that than passing this bill.

This is also a good time to mention that the SEC and Big Ten issued a joint statement disapproving of the bill as structured.

Interestingly, one of the "yea" votes came from Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Senator, I think your friends at Memphis would like a word.

Neither Rick Scott nor Ashley Moody -- Florida's two senators -- are on that committee.

No sane person is arguing that college athletics landscape doesn't need some guardrails. LSU, for instance, has a football roster with an estimated cost of more than $40 million, with that cash coming from NIL (booster dough) and direct payments from the university.

USF lost multiple key players, particularly on offense, when they left with former coach Alex Golesh to Auburn. Golesh is estimated to have spent about $30 million on his roster, using the same formula as LSU and other big powers.

USF dollar figures are on its roster buildup is harder to come by, but it's safe to assume its not in the same stratosphere we just mentioned.

Another way to look at this is the possibility of a preemptive strike by a power conference interested in adding the Bulls before this bill has a chance to pass. Those of us who live around here know what USF has to offer in market size, university support, academic excellence, first-class facilities, and so on.

So, in the immortal words of the late, great Amir Abdur-Rahim, relax Bulls Nation.

But keep one eye open about what's going on, just in case.

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