LSU Bucks Greg Sankey With Letter to Senate
· Yahoo Sports
A large number of representatives from colleges and universities around the country have co-signed a letter in support of the Protect College Sports Act, which was introduced in its infancy stages last week by two U.S. senators. The kicker here is that LSU bucks Greg Sankey with its support. Several school representatives co-signed the letter. That puts them at the opposite side of the issue from the SEC commissioner.
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LSU Bucks Greg Sankey With Letter to Senate
SEC School Joins Others From Other Conferences
The letter was sent early Monday to senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-CT), and Eric Schmitt (R-MO). All four are co-sponsors of the bill designed to empower the NCAA and College Sports Commission to enforce a wide span of rules in governing college sports.
While the legislation is not in its final version, the reaction has been very split on the potential outcome. There are still Commerce Committee hearings to be held on the bill starting this Wednesday.
The Letters
Late Sunday night, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips and Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark sent individual letters to Cruz and Cantwell voicing their support for the Protect College Sports Act.
Monday’s letter of support was sent with 95 signatories. “As Presidents, Chancellors, current and former Board Chairs, and governing Board Members of colleges and universities across the United States, we write to express our enthusiastic support for the Protect College Sports Act and its comprehensive effort to reform college athletics,” the letter begins.
Who Signed the Letter?
The list of signatories of the letter is intriguing. It includes multiple representatives from schools throughout the Big 12, Pac-12, and ACC. For example, BYU is represented on the letter by Casey Adams of the school president’s leadership council and Shane Reese, the university president. Most of the schools on the list have at least two representatives.
And that gets us to LSU. One of the strongest multi-sport schools in the SEC has school president Wade Rousse, Lee Mallett, the chairman of the board, and benefactor Digger Earles. That puts the school in direct contradiction with Sankey.
The SEC commissioner, along with Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, has come out in opposition to the bill. Their biggest issue is the ability of conferences to negotiate television rights as one group. Going to the market will help the smaller conferences raise their share of the media revenue.
Why Does Sankey Dislike the Bill?
But it could come at the expense of the “big two” conferences. An agreement of 75% of the FBS schools is what is called for in the bill to move forward with bundling the TV negotiations. That would mean 103 schools saying yes. A loose headcount has the total currently at 109.
LSU has not come out publicly as to why it co-signed the letter of support. Sankey, while frequently saying the schools are free to act of their own accord, generally holds a pretty tight grip on the unanimity within his conference.
Outside the Lines
University of Texas, San Antonio president Dr. Taylor Eighmy and Eastern Michigan president Brendan Kelly join the representatives from the Big 12, Pac-12, and ACC on the letter. Also included is Wake Forest president Susan Wente, who has about a month left on the job before her retirement.
The concluding paragraph of the letter includes the following: “As a group, we live in the world of higher education daily. We recognize the complexity of these issues and appreciate your leadership in pursuing a comprehensive, balanced, bipartisan, and durable framework.” It says that everyone signing the letter is prepared to work with the Senate in an effort to get the bill passed.
The bill requires 60 votes in the Senate to pass. There will be time allocated to rally support and make changes to the bill before it ever comes to a vote. Last week, a bill in the House of Representatives died with the boycott from the Congressional Black Caucus.
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