Saving College Sports—Landmark New Legislation that’s a Massive Win for Athletes, Colleges & Fans

Summary

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The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

Episode: Saving College Sports—Landmark New Legislation that’s a Massive Win for Athletes, Colleges & Fans
Date: May 29, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this special episode, Ben Ferguson is joined by Senator Ted Cruz to discuss a new bipartisan bill aimed at reforming and saving college sports in America. The conversation dives deep into the crisis facing college athletics, the breakdown of traditional systems via NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) and the transfer portal, and how this landmark legislation seeks to protect athletes, maintain vital sports programs, and unify partisan interests—all while highlighting the uniquely American vibrancy of college sports.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Personal Opening: Senator Cruz’s 25th Wedding Anniversary

• [03:01–11:34]
  • Ben and Senator Cruz exchange lighthearted stories about marriage for their audience.
  • Memorable anecdotes include Senator Cruz’s "25th rose" line when he couldn't get a 25th flower (“Sweetheart, you’re the 25th rose” [06:25]) and his advice on long marriages:

    “Don’t get too excited at the highs, don’t get too sad at the lows. This is a marathon, not a sprint.” (Sen. Cruz, [09:51])

The Crisis in College Sports

• [14:21–19:40]
  • Senator Cruz frames the situation as "absolute chaos": rampant transfers, 27+ year-old players, programs being cut, and financial instability.
  • Declared: “Right now I believe college sports is an absolute crisis. Right now we have chaos in college sports.” ([14:21])
  • The economic realities: only football (mainly men’s) and occasionally basketball generate profit; nearly all other sports depend on this revenue (“Virtually no other sport is a moneymaker across college athletics.” [17:50])
  • Without intervention: Only 30–50 schools will have football programs, becoming a “mini NFL” ([19:06])
  • Noted unfairness of the old system, where athletes couldn't profit from their own performance.

Key Components of the New Bill

• [19:40–29:42]

Athlete Compensation

• Guarantees the right to true NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) earnings, emphasizing fair contracts:

  “If a quarterback can sell millions of tennis shoes, that quarterback should be compensated millions of dollars.” (Cruz, [22:51])

• Ensures protection for revenue-sharing models arising from recent legal settlements.
• Bans “fake NIL” (under-the-table payments by boosters), but specifically allows family travel expenses to be covered by athletic programs ([25:19]).

Health, Safety, and Academic Protections

• Institutes robust health insurance requirements, with zero out-of-pocket costs for student-athletes for five years after participating ([25:58]).
• $60 million trust fund established for smaller or under-resourced schools like HBCUs.
• Academic protections: e.g., coaches can’t block course selections.

Transfer Portal & Eligibility Rules

• One free transfer per athlete; subsequent transfers allowed for coach departure, program cancellation, or sexual assault/harassment ([26:56] onward).
• If transferring more than once (outside exceptions), athlete redshirts for one year.
• Hard cap: five years of eligibility and age 24 limit, with exceptions for military service ([29:42]–[30:13]).
• Outlaws professional athletes re-entering college sports.

Safeguarding Smaller Sports and Universities

• Joint media rights negotiations are permitted for schools, modeled after the NBA, allowing conferences to unite for higher value TV contracts ([39:56]).
• To receive joint rights, schools must maintain all current athletic roster and scholarship spots across sports ([39:57]).

Blocking "Super-League" Formation

• Explicitly bans mergers like SEC-Big Ten “super leagues” ([37:42]), countering moves that would concentrate talent/revenues and devastate other college programs.

The Lane Kiffin Rule

• Coaches cannot be hired away during the season or playoffs, paralleling NFL standards ([41:29]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the state of college sports:
  • "Over the years, college sports has been an avenue for millions of young men and women to get a college education, many of whom might never have had a chance to do that before... Right now I believe college sports is an absolute crisis." (Sen. Cruz, [14:21])
• Concerning the frustrations with athletic careers:
  • “Student athletes were, before we had NIL... modern day slaves… You could be lied to by a coach. You signed, they owned you.” (Ben Ferguson, [22:13])
• On under-the-table payments:
  • “[A player] would walk into a booster's tent... He'd pick the bag up, and there was cash in the bag. ...This is how it worked at every SEC school in the country.” (Ben Ferguson, [23:55])
• New eligibility standards and fairness:
  • “It's not fair for a 28 year old guy to play against an 18 year old guy.” (Cruz, [29:56])
• Bipartisanship and the legislative process:
  • “Most observers thought there was no way Republicans and Democrats could find common ground on saving college sports. We managed to do it.” (Cruz, [14:21])
• On pushback:
  • “Our opposition is coming from two places: Number one, the extreme far left. And number two, big money.” (Cruz, [34:29])
• On the super league threat:
  • “…It would basically transform the other schools into… Division 2.” (Cruz, [37:20])
  • "If you do this ... you must maintain every single roster spot and every single scholarship spot for women's and men's sports, for Olympic sports, for track and field, for tennis, for all the non-revenue sports, you got to maintain them." (Cruz, [39:57])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment | |:--------------:|:-------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:01–11:34 | Personal opening: Cruz’s wedding anniversary stories & marriage advice | | 14:21–19:40 | Crisis in college sports: chaos, athlete exploitation, systemic breakdown| | 19:40–25:19 | Overview of compensation, NIL, and protecting legitimate athlete earnings| | 25:19–29:42 | Health insurance, trust funds, transfer portal and academic protections | | 29:42–31:20 | Eligibility rules, age limits, military service exception, no pros return| | 33:26–34:29 | Details on transfer rules: coach departures, multiple transfer scenarios | | 34:29–39:56 | Where pushback comes from (far left and big money), super league threat | | 39:56–41:29 | Joint media rights, women’s sports, Lane Kiffin rule, closing thoughts |

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Conclusion

This episode is essential listening for anyone passionate about college athletics, university life, or the shifting legal and ethical landscape of amateur sports. Through thoughtful, bipartisan compromise, the bill aims to "save college sports" by fixing NIL abuses, protecting non-revenue sports, ensuring health and academic fairness for athletes, and fending off financial forces that could reshape the collegiate landscape for the worse. The lively, candid discussion between Ben Ferguson and Senator Cruz brings legislative detail to life, making complex policy accessible and engaging.

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Listen for More

The hosts encourage listeners to subscribe to "Verdict with Ted Cruz" for deeper dives on policy, politics, and sports legislation ([41:29]).

Transcript

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[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome. It is verdict with center Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you as well. And it's so nice to have some of you listening on the radio around the country. We've got a lot that we're going to be talking about. But before we even get to the topics, I gotta say, Senator, I know you. I feel like I know you well. I feel like you're one of my best friends. The IDEA that for 25 years there is one woman who has put up with you for 25, five years is truly incredible. I don't know if this is a rapture alert, I don't know if you've gotten really good at gift giving, but congratulations. 25 years you have been married. That is incredible. Well done.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, thank you. We celebrated our 25th anniversary on Wednesday this week. And you know, It's. Heidi says 25 years of marriage, it's been 21 of the happiest years of her life. So I'll take that ratio. That's not bad. I'm excited.

[Ben Ferguson]

Asking for which four years she's describing as the other.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

She didn't say they were contiguous. It's just, you know, it's. I'm batting well over.500. I'm happy with that. We had actually a fabulous anniversary. We started the day we went and had brunch together. We spent the day just kind of. We looked through our wedding albums. It's unbelievable. 25 years ago, May 27, 2001. And my God, we were kids. Like it really.

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, you know, you're still young in the Senate, but you're not young anymore. When you look at your wedding pictures, that's the best way you can describe it, right?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So I'll tell you the weird thing Ben is Heidi's parents were my age when we got married. And we thought of them as like unbelievably old. And you know, 25 years is a long time. But it was, you know, our nephews and nieces were 2 and 4 and they were like the flower girl and the little ring bearers and they were, they were so cute. And all four of them now are grown and married. They're great kids. But you know, 25 years added to 2 and 4 get you old enough to be grown and married and a full on adult. So we spent the whole day together, just reflecting on kind of what the last 25 years were, what surprised us on the good side, what surprised us on the bad side. And then Wednesday night, we went out and had a nice romantic dinner together. It was funny. We each got cards, and we both wrote the same thing in the card to each other. We both wrote, I can't wait for the next 50 years together.

[Ben Ferguson]

There you go.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And when I read Heidi's note, that's how she closed it. I just started laughing because she hadn't read my card yet, and that's how I closed mine.

[Ben Ferguson]

I was gonna say, was somebody cheating? Did someone leave their card out? The other person saw the card, so that was genuine, authentic. It wasn't. Okay, no cheating involved there. I love that.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Turns out, 25 years, you kind of know how each other thinks. Okay, I'm going to tell you a quick, funny story, then we're going to get to substance. But. But I. You know, I went to get her. I got her two dozen roses for 25th anniversary. And so I met at Whole Foods right down the street from us. Bought the roses. Yeah, I wanted to get 25, but they only had them in 12 bundles, and they didn't have any loose roses, and there was nobody working the dirt counter. So I got. I got her 24. I gave her the 24. When she said that, she said, did you get 25? And I said. I said, Sweetheart, you're the 25th rose.

[Ben Ferguson]

Oh, look at you.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And it was a moment. Look, look, I'm usually not very slick, but it was a moment. She just cracked up laughing. And it was like, all right, that wasn't bad. Like, I turned to our girls. I'm like, hey, Dad's got a little game here. That worked. But I got her a card, and it was a card that was in the tray on the little carousel that said blank. And it had a really pretty, almost like silk drawing of a flower that was just really pretty. It was blank. And I figured I'd write her a nice note in. In it. Yeah. And I'm at the checkout counter, and as I'm paying for it, it flashes up on the screen, and suddenly it says, sympathy card. And I stop. I'm like, wait a second. I go, look at the thing. And even though it was in the blank shelf, it said in it, I'm so sorry for your loss, and I'm hurting with you, for all your suffering. And I crack. I didn't actually end up giving it to Heidi because she's pretty literal. And I don't know that she would have thought it was very funny. But Caroline, our eldest daughter, I told her that tonight and she cracked up. Caroline thought it was funny. I would give Caroline a sympathy card, but Heidi would find it less amusing. And so instead I went and got an actual blank card.

[Ben Ferguson]

So many times. I hate cheesy cards. Valentine's Day, I will actually get two cards. I'll get the cheesy one and then I'll get the humorous fun one that's like, you know, cartoon or something. And I'm like, this is the one I really want to get you. Here's the one I know you really want. And so we, it's now become a thing. We give too. So 25 years. I gotta ask you one last question. I'm assuming a 25 year gift is like, I'm you, you know me. My, my, my love language is gifts. I'm a jewelry person and, and a benefits from that. What did you get for the 25 year anniversary? And I hope it was good because everyone's judging you otherwise right now.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, look, I got Heidi some earrings. We actually went to the jewelry store together and got the earrings. And she really likes the earrings. They're nice earrings and, and she really likes them. And I for, for a lot of vacations, jewelry is sort of my like, like for birthdays and Christmas, you know, I'd get bracelet or jewelry or something. And so it, I think she picked out the earrings and she really liked it.

[Ben Ferguson]

There you go. See, you know, you didn't go wrong. If she picked it out, it's on her at that point.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Heidi has strong opinions and it is dangerous. Fully half of the gifts I've gotten her that she didn't see, she returns. And the first, I don't know, five, 10 years of marriage, I'd get kind of hurt. My feelings would be hurt. And then I was just like, look, this is an opinionated lady. She knows what she thinks. I take a shot sometimes and if I get something that I think is really nice, and she's like, no thanks. Here's the gift receipt. Go take it back. Get something you want.

[Ben Ferguson]

And you got it. Final question, let's see, 16 years in. So I'm behind you. Clearly, I don't think. Yeah, I'm behind you. Here. What is your one piece of advice for everybody?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

By the way, how old are you right now, Ben?

[Ben Ferguson]

44.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

44. So nine years from now you'll be 53. So just two years behind me when you hit your 25th.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, when I hit my 25th. Exactly. So what is your one piece of advice? Like, what is the advice you have the whole day of the ups and downs? What's the one thing you would give for people on. On how to make it to 25 years, besides the fact that you need to almost always be wrong all the time?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah. Look, there are lots of things that are. That are trite. I mean. I mean, marriage is work. It's. It's hard work. It's a decision we're going to go through, that there are times, I will say, this is something I wrote in my card, that there are times when. When the highs exceeded anything we could imagine. And there have been times when the lows exceeded anything we can imagine. And it's. You know, I remember as a kid I used to watch soap operas and think soap operas were overstated. And the longer I lived, the more I realized man is a fallen creature in this journey. There are times when you're grieving. There are times when you're weeping. There are times when you're celebrating. And look, part of going the distance is don't get too excited at the highs, don't get too sad at the lows. This is a marathon, not a sprint. But I remember also when we got married. The pastor who married us, we got married in California, Santa Barbara, California, at the Museum of Natural History. Because Heidi's a native Californian. She grew up in San Luis Obispo, just north of there. And it was an outdoor wedding. Heidi's theme was Midsummer Night's Evening. It was a beautiful wedding. I had nothing to do with designing it. She designed everything. But the pastor who married us, he sat up there, he said, look, there are going to be times when you have fights and sometimes knock down, drag out fights. And he said, if you're thinking maybe I'm the one who should apologize, you're right, you should. And he said that to me, and he said that to her. He said, it doesn't matter who's right or wrong. It's up to you, the husband, it's up to you, the wife, even if you're totally in the right and she's totally in the wrong, go and say I'm sorry and make the peace. Now, we don't always do that, but I remember his words, and that's really good counsel for a long and hopefully another 50 years of marriage.

[Ben Ferguson]

All right, Senator, before we get into this legislation, I do want to take a moment and just talk about something that's really important and some of you listening. I think are going to want to know about. And that is Americans United for Life. For over the past 50 years, AUL has filed more than 200 legal briefs and helped create at least 400 pro life bills in over 50 states. They're writing model legislation and consulting with the state legislators and defending their own laws and other pro life statues in court. Now Americans United for Life has a dual front approach of not only writing but then defending legislation. And it's proved an effective one that could become even more impactful. As pro life state legislatures are moving to enact protections for preborn babies after the downfall of Roe v. Wade, they're also protecting the mothers and, and now they are also doing everything they can to fight on the legality of abortion that is returned to the states. And that's where you come in. You now have the opportunity to overturn pro abortion laws and advance pro life legislation that attacks the most vulnerable in our society. From the womb to the tomb, together we can shape the future of our nation through life affirming legislation in every state. A gift of just $25 helps hold abortion providers accountable and helps protect women and unborn children across the country. And now through a match your gift is doubled. You can donate [e-mail] verdict that's a U L.org verdict sponsored by Americans United for Life center it I gotta say I have never felt like you had my back more than watching you do sports talk radio as shows over the last 24 hours. And you, you, you did something that desperately needed to be done if you care about sports, if you love sports and, and you, you did something that dealt with Lane Kiffin and his name, the guy who used to be at my alma mater Ole Miss and then screwed us and went down to lsu. Uh, I have lots of animosity there but the Lane Kiffin rule is now gonna become an actual thing hopefully. Let's break down the nil, explain why this matters. And, and, and this is really I truly believe about saving college sports. I played in college. It was broken system for a long time. The pendulum swung a law a far far far the other way. And now we're trying to find a happy medium here.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well listen, you're right. I spent much of this week doing sports radio, sports tv, doing interviews with sports illust espn, Stephen A. Smith and talking about college sports. And this week I believe was a really consequential week for college sports. I introduced a major bipartisan bill that I wrote alongside Maria Cantwell. Maria Cantwell is a Democrat from Washington state. I'm the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Maria is the ranking member, the senior Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee. And this is a bill that I've spent three years working on and thousands of hours trying to bring Republicans and Democrats together. And we introduced it this week. I gotta say, most observers thought there was no way Republicans and Democrats could find common ground on saving college sports. We managed to do it. And so I wanna break it down and on this pod we're gonna go into a little bit of depth. Cause I think this topic really matters. But let's start with. Look. Sports is, is an amazing. And college sports is an amazing institution in America. It's something that no other country has the equivalent of college sports in their nation. You know, today there are more than 500,000 college athletes right now competing. And you look at that and college athletics and sports generally is something that brings us together in an era where we're so divided, we're so angry. You can go and root for your team and we come together, it doesn't matter. You can be from different parties, you can be different races, you can be different religions, it doesn't matter. You're all cheering for the home team. That is an awesome thing. And over the years, college sports has been an avenue for millions of young men and women to get a college education, many of whom might never have had a chance to do that before. And, and right now I believe college sports is an absolute crisis. Right now we have chaos in the college sports. So, so we've got the transfer portal. You, you've got athletes that are transferring two, three, four, five times, going every year to a different school. You've got, at the end of the season, your, your school's team can be blown up. As, as all the star players are recruited to other schools. The kids who are doing that ended up, end up not getting a very good education. You've got kids challenging every eligibility rule. So you have players playing seven years, you have players playing college sports when they're 27, 28 years old. You have pros coming back to college sports. It is messed up. And what is happening, Ben, every week a different college program across the country announces they're cutting a sport, they're, they're cutting women's sports, they're cutting track and field, they're cutting Olympic sports, they're, they're

[Ben Ferguson]

cutting tennis, they're cutting non money making sports, which by the way, to be clear, is the overwhelming a majority of college sports. Just so people understand that the economics of this in most schools, they make money off football. If it's Division 1, it's. They make money off basketball. And then the, the scale is just nose diving after that. And there's so many sports that don't make money. And that's why Arkans this year, they decided to get rid of the tennis team. And then luckily somebody came in last moment said, we'll fund it for you. But they had shut down men and women's tennis and it was just like, sorry, it is what it is.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah, that, that was just a few weeks ago, Arkansas canceled both men's and women's tennis. I texted that to you. And as a former SEC varsity tennis player, you, you, you shed a tear. Thankfully, a booster came in and saved tennis for them. But, but it gives, it gives a sense of what's going on and if anything, you understated where the revenue comes from. The overwhelming majority, the vast majority is men's football. That is the driver of revenue. Second place is basketball. But it is basketball makes a little bit of money. It is football that feeds the entire beast. And virtually no other sport is a moneymaker across college athletics. All of the other sports are surviving on the revenue from football. And what is happening is we're in a non stop spending war where the budgets are going up and up and up. And I believe if Congress doesn't act in three to five years, we will see 30 to 50 colleges across America that will still have football teams and it will basically be a mini NFL. It will be a pro football league, kind of the, the G league for the NFL.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And. And the rest of the story, many

[Ben Ferguson]

of the athletes make more money playing in college now than they do if they get drafted.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

If they're not a top draft pick, you actually can make more money. And that's part of what people understand is a lot of these athletes are staying around, as you mentioned it, like till they're 27, 28 and playing 5, 6, 7 years and transferring all the time. They're making more money than going pro because the cash is so big to play in college now that they're like, why would I go to the pros unless I'm a top 10 draft pick? After that, the economics of it say stay in college longer.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And listen, I don't begrudge the athletes making money. And I think it's important, I think it's fair that they make money, that they be fairly compensated. And this bill that we drafted does that. But the system is broken. What is happening is there's a bidding war where the vast majority of schools right now are losing millions and in some cases tens of millions of dollars on sports. And it's why they're canceling all the other programs, because they're just pouring money into football, trying to stay competitive. And you've got these schools that, that, that are very rich institutions that have big alumni donor bases that can fund that constant arms race. But, but everyone else is losing. So, for example, let's take. You're in my home state of Texas. If the system continues on the path it's on, there are only two schools that I am certain would survive. University of Texas and Texas A and M. They have a big enough donor base that no matter what happens, those two survive. But if we're sitting here three, five years from now, and the other schools, University of Houston, Baylor, tcu, smu, Texas Tech, Rice, if the other college programs in Texas go under, that's terrible for Texas, it's terrible for athletes, it's terrible for the sport. But let me be clear. This is not a done deal by any means. We still have a long road to go. We introduced the bill this week, which shocked people. They didn't think we could get a bipartisan bill. And we introduced it with two Republican senators, two Democrat senators. So Maria Cantwell and I introduced it. We were joined by Eric Schmidt, Republican from Missouri, and Chris Coons, Democrat from Delaware. So four of us introduced it. We're going to have next week, I'm going to chair a hearing on the bill, and we're going to hear from witnesses about what's happening in college sports. And then my intention is very shortly thereafter that to mark up the bill, hopefully to vote it out of committee. But for this bill to pass, we've got to get at least seven Democrats. We got to get to 60 senators. And my goal is to get a lot more than 60 to have a big bipartisan vote, but we got to get it out of the Senate and then move it over to the House and have the House pass it. And so the bill is designed to, number one, to find common ground and build a broad coalition. So what does it do? It starts out by protecting athletes and their right to be compensated. And listen, the old system that was around for a long, long time, athletes could not get any compensation. And it was really unfair. It didn't make sense. Lots of people were getting rich off college athletics. Everyone except the athletes. And I think as a conservative, I think you ought to have a right to enjoy the fruits of your labor, that if you work Hard, you develop a skill, you ought to be able to benefit from it.

[Ben Ferguson]

I've said this on this show before. Student athletes were, before we had nil. They were modern day slaves that you could be lied to by a coach. You signed with that university, they owned you. And if you wanted to transfer and they didn't give you a release, they then made you sit out for a year, which made you completely irrelevant because a younger person would come along and they've been playing and they had stats and you weren't on the sidelines. You, you had to fix that. And, and that's what the nil did, is that it was like, okay, we're going to give some freedom. But then as you mentioned, should you be able as a student athlete transfer every single year you have, you lose the team aspect of sports.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, so what this bill does, it protects, number one, the right of every athlete to get compensated for real nil for name, image and likeness. So if a quarterback is selling tennis shoes, and if that quarterback can sell millions of tennis shoes, that quarterback should be compensated millions of dollars. If you're producing that value, those contracts should be fully honored. This bill protects that. It also protects the rights of athletes to participate in revenue sharing. And there was a big litigation over college sports and a settlement that agreed to a revenue sharing agreement so that universities now can pass on significant portions of the revenue that is being earned to the athletes. And so that's protected. But what it doesn't allow is fake nil deals. What it doesn't allow is a booster handing a bag of cash to an athlete in a dark alley just to get that athlete to pay it their play at their school. And so it draws a line between real nil and just fake boosters trying to game the system. What else does it do? You mentioned transfers, by the way, to

[Ben Ferguson]

be clear, what you just described, there's a lot of that happening. And yeah, that's that. Yes, that's the, that's the dark world of sports that I don't think people understand until they actually see it. I tell the story. I had a buddy of mine who played football and his mom traveled every game and his brothers came to every game. And I knew their financial situation. I just asked him and we were friends, like, how does it work? He was like, you want to see how it works? Like, yeah, he goes watch, he goes after the game Saturday, walk with me afterwards, meet me at the lockers and I'll show you how it works. And I don't blame him. I want to be Clear. This is how it worked at every SC school in the country. You had a bag. He had his bag, and it was his locker room bag, and it was about, you know, this big, and you throw your sneakers and stuff in there. He would walk into a booster's tent, put that bag down the corner. We'd eat a little food. We'd leave. He'd pick the bag up, and there was cash in the bag. He knew which booster to go to next. They were told the boosters to go to, and they would go to the next booster. They put a little cash in that bag, same thing, and work it. And then we went back to the. To the dorm room, and we're counting cash. He's like, yeah, this is going to get my mom's plane ticket, my brother's plane ticket, my grandmother's plane ticket. Otherwise, they'll never see me play a game. It covers their hotels and their meals, and that's how the system works. So, like, cleaning that up is great, but it's still happening as you described it. There's still bags of money coming in, dark alleys.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And by the way, one of the things this bill protects explicitly is the ability of programs to cover travel expenses for the family of players. So that's something that is explicitly allowed under the bill and carved out as legitimate. This bill also ratchets up health and safety standards for student athletes, and it puts in place rules that you can't. You can't just ignore a concussion. You got to have health and safety standards. It requires far more extensive health insurance for student athletes than you have right now, including five years of health insurance after playing for injuries or disease from. From things that occurred while playing. And. And so that is because the day

[Ben Ferguson]

you leave, I. I say this because I witnessed it. The day you leave, I blew up my shoulder. It would have been within the five years. It was clearly damage done during my time playing. All of that is on me. All the deductible, all the rehab. If you don't have great insurance, it's on you. My buddies that played, that had herniated discs, they had back surgeries afterwards, they missed work. They. I mean, and then you talk about the brain injuries of athletes and the concussion. They knew. And there was a clear decision made in college sports that we can use up your body and duct tape it to success. And as soon as you either graduated or were off scholarship or walked out of that locker room for the last time, we had zero liability. So I. I mean this when I say it. Thank you. Because that may be the most important thing you guys put in there. Five years is adequate because I, I know my shoulder surgery, the rehab and everything else out of my own pocket, that was on me. And there's a lot of players that have to deal with that. It's unfair.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah. And, and look, something like your shoulder injury. This mandates zero out of pocket expense for, for the athlete for those five years that it has to be covered by the insurance with no out of pocket expense. It also creates a $60 million medical trust fund so that institutions that don't have the resources to provide that insurance, institutions like historically black colleges and universities. That trust fund is there paid for by the giant schools that are generating a lot of money. And so it improves the standards and it also has protections for scholarships, academic protection. So a coach can't say to a player, you can't take that course. A coach can't make a player not be able to go to go to class. There are lots of protections that are written in for the athletes. But then the system you mentioned, the transfer portal, what the bill provides is that every athlete is entitled to one free transfer. So you can transfer anytime, no questions asked for a second transfer. It lays out specific reasons. So number one, if your coach quits, if your coach quits, you can transfer somewhere else. Number two, if your program is canceled, well, if your program is canceled, you can transfer somewhere else if you want to play at another school. Or number three, if you're a victim of a sexual assault or sexual harassment, those exceptions are carved out. You can have a second transfer. But other than those exception, if you transfer a second time, you're required to red shirt for a year. You're required to sit out for a year. Because look, my approach focusing on this bill is I didn't spend a lot of time worrying about the superstars. I didn't spend a lot of time worrying about the Michael Jordans or there's very few of them, the Arch Mannings. You know, there are people that are going to make millions in the NBA or the NFL and they're going to be fine. But 99% of college athletes are like you, Ben. They're folks who played in college but never played the NFL, the NBA. 99% of the athletes in college are never going to play pro ball of any kind of. And my focus was on those guys, that I want them to be able to get an opportunity to get an education. And for millions of low income kids, many African American or Hispanic, without athletics, they would not have the chance, they wouldn't be able to afford college and to get an education, to get a degree, but also to learn everything you get from sports. Hard work, discipline, teamwork, sportsmanship, all of that can help set them up for success in life, even if they don't earn a paycheck as a professional athlete. And so look for an athlete. If you end up going to four or five schools in four or five years, you're not getting a good education. You're just going from one school to the other and playing and playing and playing. At the end of your time, you're done playing schools, you're not an athlete anymore.

[Ben Ferguson]

You're an athlete. You're an athlete that's getting traded from one team to another.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

So the transfer portal reform is really important. And eligibility, we put in clear rules that every athlete's entitled to five years of eligibility and a hard cap of age. 24 is the oldest you can be

[Ben Ferguson]

and so love that rule.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

You know, we're not going to have 27, 28 year old guys. It's not, it's not fair for a 28 year old guy to play against an 18 year old guy. There's just differences that make it not fair.

[Ben Ferguson]

My sports brain's going insane right now. I have a question. What if you serve in the military? Is there a, is there a.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yes, there is. There is an exception for the military. Explicitly.

[Ben Ferguson]

Okay, so if you're over 24, you go serve, you come back, you can play again. All right, I have another question.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

You said it also specifies pros can't go, go in and play college sports. I gotta admit, I was joking with, with Charlie Baker, who's the head of the ncaa. I said, I said, charlie, I for one am really looking forward to seeing LeBron James's college career. Because right now in the current system, he never played in college. He could go back. Could you imagine being a 17 year old kid, a freshman in college, and discover that you're guarding LeBron James?

[America 250 Announcer]

This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party. Hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th. Helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark [e-mail]

[Parent]

with my mom and dad living in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like 10.

[Lingokids Advertiser]

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[Parent]

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[Lingokids Advertiser]

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[Parent]

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[Lingokids Advertiser]

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[Parent]

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[Parent]

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[Bare Knuckle Fighting Announcer]

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[Martha Stewart]

ever wonder how to make hosting look effortless? Here's a secret. When prepping for cooking and baking, get ahead of the mess with new Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Just lightly wet the counter so the paper grips. Lay it down and drips and spills. Stay on the paper, not on your counter. Cleanup is as simple as lifting it away to reveal clean counters. Effortless it is. Thanks to Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Wet it, set it, prep it. Done. Available in the Reynolds Wrap aisle at Walmart, Target, Amazon and Costco Center.

[Ben Ferguson]

I want to get back into this. You mentioned something I want to. I want to clarify. You said that you get two transfers. This is the first time in my life I've ever wanted to be a witness in in anything. In government, in the Senate or the House. As a witness, I would ask this question to to the body. So I'll ask it to you. If I go to a school freshman year and the coach recruits me, he quits, disappears, leaves, whatever, I get to transfer. What if I go to another school and then that coach takes another job? Do I get another transfer?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yes.

[Ben Ferguson]

Okay.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Anytime your coach quits, it's not fair to you. To punish you if you were recruited for a coach and the coach just

[Ben Ferguson]

a minimum of one, it's unlimited there.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Right, right in that exception. Because that's a legitimate reason to leave. And that's not going to happen as a widespread matter. That's not going to lead to, you know, you know, every starting basketball player being recruited away at the end of every season from a team, which is what we're seeing sometimes now.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. Oh, no. I mean, I laugh. There's football teams now where there was like zero members from the prior year on the football team. And that's a football team, which is huge.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Yeah.

[Ben Ferguson]

So who is against this legislation and where's the pushback coming from?

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, I have to say. So we introduced it this week and there's been surprisingly little pushback. It has been very well received. As I said, people were astonished that we could get there. Things are so broken down and partisan that they just believe there was no way Democrats and Republicans could come together.

[Ben Ferguson]

And I gotta say, pretty liberal guy like you and him don't. Y' all are not usually one on one like this.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

Well, actually, Chris and I work on a number of things together. Maria Cantwell is my lead partner on this. She's the ranking member on commerce. And we literally have been negotiating for the last month, we've been spending six to eight hours a day in a room negotiating directly provision by provision. It has been painstaking. And we had to reach middle grounds where there are provisions in there that don't go as far as I would like, but don't go as far as she would like. And that's how you have to get there. But our opposition is coming from two places. Number one, the extreme far left. And number two, big money. And let me break that down, the extreme far left. To date, only one senator out of 100 has publicly criticized that. That's Chris Murphy, the very liberal senator from Connecticut who's blasted this, says this doesn't do enough for athletes and it just helps millionaires. And it's. Look, the far left is listening to union bosses and trial lawyers that want a system where, number one, their constant lawsuits. Every university is being sued nonstop, every conference being sued nonstop, every league is being sued nonstop. And number two, every student athlete is an employee. They're unionized. They're union members. They're paying union dues. Those union dues are going to fund Democrat candidates. Both of those are terrible outcomes for college sports. And a whole lot of the programs the historically black colleges and universities have said, if that happens, they'll Shut down their entire athletic department. I mean, that's the consequence that would end up taking away athletic opportunity for over time, millions of kids. So that's a terrible outcome. But that's one area of pushback is the very far left. The other area of pushback is big money. And you know, I mentioned that we're on a path to consolidation in 30 to 50 schools. In college football, there are two conferences that account for more than 2/3 of the revenue, and that is the SEC and the Big Ten. That's where the eyeballs are. They generate massive revenue because look, that's where most of the best football in America is being played is the SEC and Big Ten. Not exclusively, but very heavily. Those two conferences. There has been a lot of talk in those two conferences about merging and forming a super league. Now I think that would be a terrible outcome. You'd end up with the rich getting richer, but all of the rest of college sports would be left behind. It would basically transform the other schools into, into I would describe as Division 2.

[Ben Ferguson]

You wouldn't be able to compete at the same level. You wouldn't have the same quality players. Anybody that cared about football and wanted to play at the highest level and play for national championship would go to the super conference, right? Like right now you want to go to the sec. And if you're from the North Northeast, you may want to go in other schools, but in general, that's the holy grail. You do what you just described and have them two come together. Every other school in America is a loser now.

[Senator Ted Cruz]

And by the way, it's even worse than that because they lose essentially all of their TV revenue, which funds the rest of their athletic department. So the other schools cancel all the non revenue sports. They slash athletics altogether, they eliminate scholarships. So you end up with millions of kids over time not being able to go to school to play sports. And that. And it's not just those kids, because an awful lot of eyeballs people learn about a school by watching March Madness, by watching sports. And they end up applying to the school, you know, a Gonzaga, you know, I mean, and they end up. It drives. When your school does well in athletics, your applications soar, your donations from alumni soar. And so you end up badly damaging a bunch of schools, not just in sports, but altogether and hurting universities. So what does this bill do? Number one, it explicitly prohibits a super league. It prohibits the Big Ten and the SEC from combining. It just says no, that's bad for sports, it's bad for athletes, it's bad for Football that is prohibited. Now, you know what? The leadership of the SEC in particular is not happy about prohibiting a super league. But, but secondly, so, so the way I looked at this problem, there. There are two elements. There's a cost element and a revenue element. On the cost side, you want to slow down the out of control spiraling that is bankrupting most of the programs so that the programs can stay vibrant and kids can keep having these opportunities. But on the revenue side, we looked hard for how do we grow the revenue that is available to fund college sports. And what we do is we allow colleges to join together and negotiate for media rights jointly. That I believe will significantly increase the revenue. So for example, the number one source of eyeballs and revenue in TV is the NFL. It's massive. The number two is college football. And yet, amazingly, even though a lot more people watch college football than the NBA, the NBA makes billions more in its media contracts. And there's a reason the NBA negotiates as one unit. You don't have the Houston Rockets negotiating against the Knicks and fighting each other. And yet in college conferences, that's what you have. So this allows conferences to come together. It's voluntary. So no one's forced to come together.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, no one's forced to, but it

[Senator Ted Cruz]

lets them come together and negotiate jointly for media rights. I believe that would expand by billions of dollars, the money coming in, which means there's more money for the other sports. And we write in that if you do this, if you get joint media rights, you must maintain every single roster spot and every single scholarship spot for women's and men's sports, for Olympic sports, for track and field, for tennis, for all the non revenue sports, you got to maintain them. If you're getting a lot more money through football. And so it's designed to be a win win for everyone. But, but look, the leadership of the SEC has said that they're not interested. And I. Look Greg Sankey, I know, well, Tony Petiti, who leads the Big Ten, I know him well. I've talked to both of them and I've said, listen, this is voluntary. It only works if you guys choose to participate. That means the other schools have to offer good enough deal that y' all are making a lot more money and so are they. That is a win win for everyone. That's the outcome I hope we see, because I want to see college sports continue to be an amazing thing for athletes, for students, continue to be an amazing thing for universities and a great thing for fans. Look, it is an awesome thing to cheer on your school. And you asked about the Lane Kiffin rule. It provides that coaches cannot be hired away during the season or during the playoffs. We adopt the same rule as the NFL, which is you gotta wait till the off season because it's not fair to do what happened to the fans of Ole Miss to take their coach right going into the playoffs. That's just wrong.

[Ben Ferguson]

I love it. Don't forget we do this shows a podcast three days a week. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz. Download it wherever you can and we'll see you back here on this radio station as well next week.

[America 250 Announcer]

This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party Hosted by America 250, America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the last Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark [e-mail]

[Parent]

with my mom and dad living in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like 10.

[Lingokids Advertiser]

Oh, as an avid camper, I know all about this. We'll pack up the RV and know this is either going to be the trip of a lifetime or a complete disaster.

[Parent]

Which is why we load up the iPads with Lingokids before we even pull out of the driveway.

[Lingokids Advertiser]

It's what dreams are made of. Lingokids keeps kids engaged and quiet with over 4000 interactive games, songs and shows that kids simply cannot get enough of.

[Parent]

You can pack whatever you think you'll need, but Lingokids is the only entertainment you'll need for a stress free car ride.

[Lingokids Advertiser]

Or really any ride, plane, train, hovercraft, whatever.

[Parent]

Download Lingokids for free today or unlock

[Lingokids Advertiser]

even more amazing content with LingoKids.

[Parent]

Plus choose the yearly plan and save up to 60%. Search LingoKids in the App Store or

[Lingokids Advertiser]

Google Play Lingokids Everything kids love this

[Bare Knuckle Fighting Announcer]

January Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship takes over the ocean. The inaugural Bruise Cruise sails from Miami to the Bahamas aboard the Norwegian Jewelry. Three straight days with pool deck, bare knuckle fights in the Caribbean, massive parties, beach events, DJs, cigars, tequila tastings and non stop action, the lineup reveals. Coming soon. Cabins are disappearing fast and the prices won't stay this low. Reserve your spot with just $200 [e-mail]

[Martha Stewart]

ever wonder how to make hosting look effortless here's a secret when prepping for cooking and baking, get ahead of the mess with new Reynolds Kitchens countertop prep paper. Just lightly wet the counter so the paper grips. Lay it down and drips and spills stay on the paper, not on your counter. Cleanup is as simple as lifting it away to reveal clean counters. Effortless it is thanks to Reynolds Kitchen's countertop prep paper. Wet it it, Set it, prep it done. Available in the Reynolds Wrap aisle at Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Costco.