LSU’s Name Turned Up Backing a College Sports Bill in June —
In July, Its President Told Congress No.
On Monday, LSU became the fifth Southeastern Conference school — after Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama, and Auburn — to formally tell Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) it will not support their Protect College Sports Act as written. The letter, co-signed by new LSU president Wade Rousse and Board of Supervisors chairman Lee Mallett, was first reported by On3’s Thomas Goldkamp.
Five weeks earlier, Rousse’s and Mallett’s names had appeared on the opposite side of the fight — as supporters. An 85-signature “Saving College Sports” letter backing the same bill, organized mostly by ACC, Big 12, and Group of Five schools, listed both men among its signers. Both said immediately it was a mistake. Mallett said he had actually meant to back the House’s rival SCORE Act: “I support the Scalise bill. If there was any miscommunication, I apologize.”
What LSU now opposes, in writing, is largely the same provision driving Alabama, Auburn, Texas, and Texas A&M: a plan to fold the sport’s four biggest conferences into a shared media-rights revenue pool — which SEC commissioner Greg Sankey says could push the SEC out of the College Football Playoff and expose it to lawsuits.
- 5th — SEC school — after Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama, and Auburn — to send Cruz and Cantwell a formal letter opposing the bill as written · Source: On3
- 19–9 — the Senate Commerce Committee vote that advanced the bill to the full floor, June 18, 2026 · Source: CBS Sports; Senate Commerce Committee
- 85 names — on the June 'Saving College Sports' letter that wrongly listed LSU's president and board chairman as bill supporters · Source: On3
- 60 votes — needed to clear the Senate floor in a 53-seat Republican majority, with recess Aug. 10–Sept. 11 narrowing the window · Source: GovTrack.us; Senate Commerce Committee
- 9 of 18 — seats on LSU's Board of Supervisors appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) since January 2024, including chairman Lee Mallett · Source: On3
The mix-up traces to early June, when a coalition of mostly ACC, Big 12, and Group of Five schools circulated the “Saving College Sports” letter urging Congress to pass the Protect College Sports Act. Eighty-five names ended up on it — and two of them, Rousse and Mallett, belonged to an SEC school that had never actually signed on. On3 reported that LSU officials said flatly they had not authorized the use of their names.
The error ran against the grain of the fight itself. Most of what mobilized in support of the bill in June came from schools outside the sport’s wealthiest conferences — the programs with the most to gain from a federally mandated revenue-sharing framework. LSU, an SEC founding member with one of the sport’s largest athletic budgets, had no obvious reason to be cheering a bill built in part to check the SEC’s own leverage.
“I support the Scalise bill. If there was any miscommunication, I apologize.”
Lee Mallett, LSU Board of Supervisors chairman — via On3, June 2026
LSU’s actual position arrived Monday: a joint letter from Rousse and Mallett to Cruz and Cantwell, obtained and first reported by On3’s Thomas Goldkamp and independently confirmed by the LSU Reveille. It did not equivocate. LSU, the letter said, does not support the Protect College Sports Act in its current form.
“While we appreciate all the efforts surrounding the Protect College Sports Act, we believe key issues remain with the legislation and we do not support the bill in its current form.”
“We look forward to working with the House, the Senate, and our fellow institutions in the Southeastern Conference to make the needed improvements to this legislation.”
— Wade Rousse, LSU president, and Lee Mallett, LSU Board of Supervisors chairman, in a letter to Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), July 13, 2026. Source: On3; LSU Reveille.
The letter’s second line matters nearly as much as its first: it commits to “working with the House, the Senate, and our fellow institutions in the Southeastern Conference” — language close to what Alabama, Auburn, Texas, and Texas A&M had already sent Congress, suggesting the five SEC schools are coordinating even without a single joint conference-wide statement.
The opposition is not a rejection of federal involvement altogether. LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry has said the opposite — that college sports genuinely needs Congress to act. “There’s a lot of legal challenges right now,” Ausberry said. “That’s why we do need some help from Congress.” LSU’s letter is not a no to federal intervention; it is a no to this bill’s specific terms.
The provision uniting all five SEC letters is the bill’s media-rights plan. To secure limited antitrust protection for the NCAA, the Protect College Sports Act would pull conferences whose combined media deals cross a set dollar threshold into a voluntary, 75%-vote revenue-pooling system. That threshold was lowered during markup from $1 billion to $700 million — a change that swept the ACC and Big 12 into the provision’s scope alongside the SEC and Big Ten.
Reporting on the Protect College Sports Act markup: the anti-super-league revenue threshold triggering the bill's media-pooling requirement was lowered from $1 billion to $700 million, pulling the ACC and Big 12 into the provision's scope alongside the SEC and Big Ten.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has been the loudest voice against the provision, warning it could force the conference to share revenue it does not currently pool at all — and could jeopardize the SEC’s standing in the College Football Playoff itself.
“[The provision] exposes the SEC to potential lawsuits forcing the conference into the media pooling practice.”
Greg Sankey, SEC commissioner
Sankey has framed the objection as one of consistency, not self-interest — “not about preserving dominance… about rules being applied fairly and consistently” — and Alabama and Auburn made nearly the identical case in their own joint statement, sent July 6–7, days after Texas and Texas A&M’s letters landed and a week before LSU’s.
Alabama and Auburn join Texas and Texas A&M in sending letters to lawmakers opposing in its current form the Protect College Sports Act.
“[The bill] solves little of what genuinely challenges college athletics and leaves the central questions to the courts, inviting the very litigation it claims to prevent.”
Alabama–Auburn joint statement, July 6–7, 2026
The opposition has crossed party lines inside the bill’s own coalition. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Auburn’s former head football coach, broke with his own party’s bill sponsor on the Senate floor.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, on the Senate floor, on the Protect College Sports Act: 'I think the bill goes too far.'
The Protect College Sports Act (S. 4668 / H.R. 9137) does more than regulate media money. It would codify athletes’ NIL rights nationally, cap players to one penalty-free transfer, impose a five-year eligibility clock, hard-cap revenue sharing, bar professional athletes from competing in college sports, and grant the NCAA limited antitrust protection in exchange for the media-pooling system at the center of the SEC’s objections.
The bill has moved fast by Senate standards. A June 3 hearing brought Nick Saban, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould, Gordon Gee, and Utah player Lance Holtzclaw before the Commerce Committee. Saban told senators the fix belongs in the courts, not in Washington’s hands: “Congress does not need to micromanage college athletics… Congress does need to fix the mess in the courts.”
The next day, President Donald Trump (R) endorsed the bill on Truth Social and Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA-05), chair of the Congressional College Sports Caucus, introduced the House companion, H.R. 9137.
College Sports, a Great American Institution that produces our many Athletes, Leaders, and Olympic Dominance, is a total 'mess'
Trump endorses the Cruz-Cantwell bill and urges passage 'before it's too late' — Truth Social, June 4, 2026, 12:52 PM ET
The committee reported the bill 19–9 on June 18. Texas and Texas A&M’s regents sent Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn a joint opposition letter June 26; Alabama and Auburn followed July 6–7; LSU followed July 13. Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly wants a floor vote this month, but the bill needs sixty votes in a 53-Republican chamber — meaning at least seven Democrats, including co-sponsor Chris Coons (D-DE), before the Senate’s Aug. 10–Sept. 11 recess closes the window. NCAA president Charlie Baker has put the bill’s odds at “50-50.” Cruz insists the moment has arrived regardless: “No more punting. We are in fourth-down territory. Time to go for it.”
“No more punting. We are in fourth-down territory. Time to go for it.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Senate Commerce Committee chairman
Every name on LSU’s letter is a Landry appointee, a Landry hire, or both. Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) has appointed nine of the eighteen sitting members of LSU’s Board of Supervisors since taking office in January 2024 — including Mallett, the board’s chairman. President Wade Rousse was installed in November 2025, near the end of that same appointment wave.
Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) — appointed 9 of 18 sitting LSU Board of Supervisors members since January 2024, including the board’s chairman.
Lee Mallett — LSU Board of Supervisors chairman, a Landry appointee; co-signed the July 13 letter and the earlier mistaken June listing.
Dr. Wade Rousse — LSU president, installed November 2025; co-signed the July 13 letter.
Verge Ausberry — LSU athletic director; says the sport needs Congress’s help, just not this bill’s current terms.
Source: On3; LSU Board of Supervisors.
That governance picture does not make LSU’s objection partisan — Cruz and Sankey are both Republicans, and Cantwell, a Democrat, co-sponsors the very bill LSU is fighting. It does mean the decision to break with Cruz sits with a board a Republican governor built, at a university whose own athletic director says the sport genuinely needs federal help — just not the specific bill five SEC schools have now told Congress to rewrite.
Five weeks after LSU’s president and board chairman were wrongly listed as supporters of the Protect College Sports Act, they sent Congress a letter saying no — joining Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama, and Auburn in a five-school SEC bloc built around one shared fear: that the bill’s media-pooling requirement could force the SEC out of the College Football Playoff. The bill still cleared committee 19–9 and has a Republican president, a Senate majority leader, and its own chairman pushing for a floor vote before recess. What it does not have, from the sport’s wealthiest conference, is a yes.
