ESPN has gotten its apparent wish. Partially, for now.
The Senate has passed the Protect College Sports Act, by a vote of 74-24. It must now clear the House of Representatives.
The vote comes three days after ESPN put Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), one of the billâÂÂs sponsors, on its flagship college football show to advocate for the passage of the act, without a contemporaneous opposing point of view. And while Stephen A. Smith has apparently chastised me for suggesting that everyone at ESPN supports the Protect College Sports Act, I donâÂÂt believe that.
It was not my intent to put everyone at ESPN in the same bucket, and I apologize if I created that impression. My point was and is that ESPNâÂÂs corporate position seems to be that it supports the bill, as evidenced by the fact that two of its most prominent college football analysts (Nick Saban and Pat McAfee) have argued for its passage on GameDay without any real pushback by other panelists, by DisneyâÂÂs reported lobbying for the bill, and by the misguided decision to platform Cruz without offering a voice representing the other side.
HereâÂÂs a thought â they could have let Smith interview Cruz.
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) also opposes the Protect College Sports Act. IâÂÂll be interviewing him on Thursday morning, for a special edition of #PFTPM.
IâÂÂd love to chop it up with Stephen A., too. We agree on plenty of things. On the things we disagree, thereâÂÂs a chance that, through open and honest discourse, weâÂÂd better understand each otherâÂÂs points of view. The country currently needs a lot more of that.
The country does not need a federal law that âÂÂsavesâ college sports, in my opinion. College sports are doing just fine, and the system should be required to clean up its own mess without a federal bailout that artificially limits the compensation and freedom of the people who generate the vast majority of the revenue, while leaving unrestricted the ability of coaches to hopscotch the map in chase of their next bag of cash.