Nevada men’s basketball redshirt junior forward Elijah Price represented Mountain West Basketball this week on Capitol Hill in support of the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA).
”I’m excited to be representing our conference and our school,” Price shared via Nevada Hoops on Instagram.
The act is a bipartisan bill led by Democrat Maria Cantwell, a senator from Washington, and Republican Ted Cruz, a senator from Texas. The PCSA would implement stricter rules and regulations for collegiate programs.
The act would ensure a salary cap, revenue sharing, lawsuit protections in favor of the NCAA (i.e., athletes suing the NCAA over eligibility), transfer portal regulations, and the “Lane Kiffin Rule,” a rule where coaches would be denied from leaving a program in the middle of the season.
The PCSA would allow schools and programs to share at most 22% of revenue generated with athletes. A $27.5 million financial pool, or “salary cap,” would be allowed for program use to keep roster players and encourage the amount of payments with third-party names.
Transfer portal regulations include a “one transfer free” rule, limiting athletes to one transfer to another school without having to sit out for one season. This creates a less chaotic way for schools to handle roster moves, and gives athletes the penalty-free decision to play elsewhere.
Other impactful additions within the PCSA include media rights pooling, the ability to maintain Olympic sport programs for nine years, federal funding for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) programs, and a superleague ban; which would deny conferences from expanding, and, at the same time, deny programs from breaking away from their respective conferences and forming a new one.
Senators on Capitol Hill voted 74-23 to close the debate on the PCSA, ensuring that the bill goes to a vote. If the act passes in the Senate, it would then go to a vote in the House of Representatives.
Notable college sports figures who made the trip to Capitol Hill include California State University, Northridge’s (CSUN) water polo junior goalkeeper Marin Byars, University of Arkansas’s basketball coach John Calipari, Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few, and legendary college football coach Nick Saban.
Florida senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody opposed the PCSA because it would make it almost impossible for Florida State and Miami to leave the ACC.
The Senate will have a final vote within the next few days.
