Congress is taking aim at private equity deals that threaten college sports programs

College sports are being redesigned in real time — not by coaches, campus leaders or even Congress, but by hedge funds. The Big Ten is promoting a multibillion-dollar private equity deal that would create a new commercial arm, extend control of media rights through 2046, give investors a say in a new entity, and distribute distribution to the biggest brands. That’s not an adjustment; it is a restructuring of who controls the core operations of college sports.

Officials flash warning lights. My colleague and fellow Washington state lawmaker, Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, warned in a letter to Big Ten presidents that selling stakes in college athletics to private equity could conflict with academic missions, jeopardize tax-exempt purposes and move forward without full briefings from trustees at some schools. Families and taxpayers deserve transparency before public assets are auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Meanwhile, campus leaders say the financial framework for college sports is damaging. Their biggest concern is House v. NCAA, a settlement in an antitrust lawsuit brought by college athletes against the NCAA over the anticompetitive behavior of the power conferences. It lets schools pay athletes under a salary cap that only the wealthiest schools can afford, while the NCAA and the rest of Division I schools pay $2.8 billion in back damages. An overwhelming 76% of leaders — including nearly nine in 10 college presidents — say the settlement will hurt athletics.

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The financial differences don’t stop there. There seems to be a new scandal every week. Take the Big Ten: Penn State just fired its coach with a buyout of more than $49 million — an amount that equals or exceeds the entire annual athletic budget of hundreds of Division I universities outside the top tier. USA Today’s public school financial database shows only a few dozen programs above $50 million.

There is more money than ever – but fewer opportunities as “non-revenue” programs are cut to keep up. Public university athletics are heavily subsidized: billions in tax-exempt bonds, tax-deductible donations, federal and state funding, land grants, and federal student aid. I agree with Cantwell: the assets under their control should serve an educational mission, not be lumped into a new private equity asset class.

Congress should take action – starting with my PROTECT Act. It would draw a clear line around public-purpose assets: Universities, conferences and their affiliates would not be allowed to sell, pledge or outsource control of key athletics revenues and media rights to outside financiers. My bill would ban private equity and foreign state investment or voting rights in college sports media and revenue.

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If external financing is needed for facilities or ticketing systems, fine – just no control over the sport itself, or in collaboration with non-transparent financiers such as private equity and sovereign wealth funds.

Now consider the SCORE Act. Proponents refer to it as order amid chaos. In practice, it codifies the House settlement — a TV revenue model built for the biggest programs — and couples it with broad antitrust protections for conferences and their new commercial subsidiaries. Do we really want to entrench the very structure that leaders say is bad for college sports while conferences investigate investor-backed “commercial weaponry” and decades of entitlement allocation?

We can choose differently. Give the President’s Executive Order on “Saving College Sports” time to take root: limit third-party pay-for-play activities, clarify the status of athletes so that scholarships and rosters are protected, and avoid crowding out women’s and Olympic sports. Let the agencies do their part while Congress fixes what only Congress can fix, guided by common sense principles:

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• Treat college sports as a public good: Keep control of core media and revenue among the universities, not the investors.

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• Cut the excess and restore balance: Use the same competitive balance logic that Congress already allows in professional sports. Implement spending limits and revenue sharing to protect scholarships, roster spots and Title IX in all varsity sports.
• Equal footing for athletes, in accordance with Title IX: Provide a base revenue share per athlete for all varsity sports, without distinction between men’s and women’s sports.

There is more money than ever – but fewer opportunities as “non-revenue” programs are cut to keep up.

• Reduce costs that do not help students learn or graduate: ban regular season games on school days; encourage regional planning to reduce travel miles, costs, and missed class time.

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• Clean up market behavior: establish a national name, image or likeness (NIL) standard, with transparency and real sanctions against manipulation; Right-size transfer rules so that every offseason isn’t a wholesale free agency.

Congress should stop the sell-off, cool the bidding wars, and put education first. Break through the PROTECT Act’s guardrails, let the executive order stand, and write rules that preserve opportunities in women’s and Olympic sports while keeping Saturdays special. Parents, presidents, fans – this is your moment to insist that college sports remain a public trust, not a private asset class.