Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) brought his push to pass federal name, image and likeness legislation to ESPN’s “College GameDay” on Saturday, and the crowd on the University of Texas campus in Austin responded with sustained boos and chants of “Ted, you suck,” according to reporting from The Daily Wire.
Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, spent roughly eight minutes on air with host Rece Davis — longer than the six-minute segment given to Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian — making the case for the Protect College Sports Act. Video of the segment circulated widely, with Awful Announcing noting the reaction from the Austin crowd.
The pitch: ‘There are no rules’
The senator’s argument centered on what he described as the disorder that has followed federal court decisions striking down NCAA limits on athlete compensation. “What we have right now is chaos. There are no rules,” Cruz told Davis, pointing to disputes over professional players entering college competition and litigation involving athletes gambling on their own games.
Cruz also returned to a familiar target: the transfer portal, which he called “terrible for the game.” He blamed Congress-triggered antitrust rulings for the current landscape, arguing that lawmakers now have a responsibility to build a national framework in response.
The bill, coauthored with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), would set up a national standard for NIL compensation, cap revenue-sharing payments to players with an annual inflation adjustment, and restrict boosters and third parties from routing pay-for-play money through NIL deals. It advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee in June with bipartisan support.
Momentum — and a missed deadline
Since clearing committee, the measure has picked up backing from the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten, more than 260 universities, and President Donald Trump, who has said he hopes to sign it before the college football season ends. It needs 60 votes to pass the Senate before moving to the House.
That vote did not happen before the Senate’s August recess, despite Trump urging lawmakers to remain in session. The Congressional Black Caucus has said Senate Democrats should withhold support until concerns raised by Black athletes, coaches and HBCUs are addressed.
Speaking with Davis on Saturday, Cruz said he remains confident the bill will secure the votes needed to pass this week. The appearance marked the second consecutive week “GameDay” has featured a segment on the legislation, following an earlier one with Nick Saban and Pat McAfee.
A hostile reception in Austin
The Austin setting guaranteed a less-than-friendly audience for a Republican senator making a national television pitch, and the crowd delivered. The boos and derisive chant were audible throughout the segment, though Cruz continued his remarks without addressing the reaction directly.
For supporters of the bill, the “GameDay” bookings represent a deliberate strategy of meeting college football fans where they are — on the sport’s most-watched pregame show — to argue that congressional action is the only path out of the current patchwork of state laws, court rulings and conference policies.
Whether that message lands with the sport’s most vocal fans is another matter. On Saturday in Austin, it did not.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/ted-cruz-takes-his-nil-pitch-to-gameday-as-austin-libs-drown-him-in-boos