WASHINGTON, DC – Gonzaga’s hall of fame coach Mark Few joined other high-profile coaches in Washington, DC Monday, pushing for lawmakers to pass the Protect College Sports Act before the Senate breaks in the next several weeks.
Few was on Capitol Hill with John Calipari of Arkansas and others.
The bill puts limits on spending in college sports, establishing requirements for NIL agreements, along with other measures.
“The Protect College Sports Act ends the NIL chaos in college athletics by protecting our student-athletes and teams and safeguarding women’s sports and Olympic programs,” former Alabama coach Nick Saban says in an ad supporting the legislation.
Few said he was initially asked to speak to lawmakers about this five years ago.
“I don’t think that many people were aware of where were in college athletics,” Few said. “But now, five years later, I think you can sense the desperation in everybody’s voices.”
“We really, really need help,” Few said. “We need it from Congress… this bill might not be perfect, but it’s far, far away the best thing we’ve got out there right now.”
Few expressed his gratefulness working with Senator Maria Cantwell on Senator Ted Cruz on the issue.
“This bill is the best possible thing we can do right now for college athletics,” he said.
Opponents say the bill needs work.
“This bill doesn’t stop billionaires from spending money on athletic facilities,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said Monday. “This money doesn’t stop billionaires from directly subsidizing the salaries of coaches. No, the only thing this bill does is to limit the relatively small slice of money in the system that goes to athletes.”
Washington Senator Maria Cantwell has been a strong supporter of the bill.
“”This is [also] about reining in the bad practices that are happening in college sports today, the runaway costs that are sending people to the state legislature, asking for bailouts from taxpayers to pay for sports,” Sen. Cantwell said. “Because of the runaway arms race in sports spending,” she added. “I’m asking my colleagues to join us in fixing what’s wrong with college sports today.”
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