SEC and Big Ten approve support for college sports bill

The Big Ten and SEC conferences agreed Friday night to support a Senate bill that seeks to regulate college sports.

The SEC and Big Ten held separate conference calls Friday and came to an agreement on the proposed bill

The Big Ten and Southeastern Conferences agreed Friday night to support a Senate bill that seeks to regulate college sports, ending a breakneck week of negotiations and pulling the bipartisan measure out of what looked like a certain death spiral. School presidents from both conferences voted to back the bill after receiving last-minute concessions over language regarding third-party name-image-likeness deals and the so-called “associated entities” that often make those arrangements. More details need to be worked out, but the headline is that the bill still has a chance to earn the 60 votes it needs to halt debate and head to an up-or-down vote before the Senate heads for summer break next Friday.

After months of withholding support and weeks of back and forth with lawmakers, the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference on Friday publicly backed a bipartisan Senate bill designed to stabilize college athlete compensation and provide antitrust protections to the NCAA and its most powerful conferences. The final major sticking point for the conferences with the Protect College Sports Act was language in a provision regarding name, image and likeness deals athletes can strike with companies that w

University leaders voted to back the long-percolating deal late Friday, but it’s unclear how soon it could hit the Senate floor.