NCAA, CFP, NIL Draw Attention of Boyle, Shapiro, State House Leader

You have heard of the NCAA. But are you familiar with the CFP? How about NIL?

Did you know that Judge Claudia Wilken is one of the most important people in college sports today? Why is that? What is this House v. NCAA case you are hearing so much about?

Remember when college football and collegiate sports was easy. At least four Pennsylvania elected officials do and want to ensure that Penn State, Pitt, and Temple students that participate in college athletics get a fair shake.

Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-02) is concerned that the power structure among the Power 4 conferences in Division I – led by the Big Ten (B1G) and the Southeastern Conferences (SEC) – might be “rigging the system” to reduce postseason football opportunities for those in the Atlantic Coast and Big XII conferences.

Reps. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford/Fulton) and Perry Stambaugh (R-Juniata/Perry) are planning to introduce legislation in the State House that would protect athletes “from poor financial decisions when being paid for name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights.”

And Gov. Josh Shapiro says that NIL, combined with the “transfer portal” which permits students participating in athletics freedom to transfer among schools, is “out of control” and thinks that “real reform” in that space is needed.

The NCAA – or National Collegiate Athletic Association – is currently facing a significant amount of scrutiny under antitrust laws, primarily due to rules restricting athlete compensation and eligibility. The House v. NCAA settlement, which provides for $2.8 billion in back payments to athletes, also allows schools to share a portion of athletic revenue with students with a cap of $20.5 million per school.

Colleges and universities in NCAA Division I – the highest playing level within the 1,100-school association – are scrambling to find ways to pay their students. The largest pile of cash comes from broadcast networks such as Fox, ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery, and NBC, not only for broadcast rights for regular-season games, but also for the postseason College Football Playoff (CFP).

It was not that long ago when the postseason championships structure in the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) consisted of a two-team playoff. Beginning in 2014, the CFP was created and expanded the field to four teams. Last season, the powers-that-be agreed to a 12-team bracket, and in 2026, because things such as this seldom shrink, the field may expand again.

The B1G, of which Penn State is a member institution, and the SEC are holding the best cards in negotiations over the format for 2026 and beyond, as the ACC, which includes Pitt as a member, and Big XII have ceded control to those leagues. That is where Boyle comes in.

College sports officials have spent the last four years seeking federal legislation to regulate the booming market for college athletes without running afoul of federal antitrust restrictions. To the northeast Philadelphia congressman, that causes problems.

Boyle explained his tweet during the PoliticsPA podcast, “Voices of Reason.”

“What I was taking issue with, and what so many others have taken issue with, is what the Big 10 and SEC are proposing to do,” he said. “The roughly 34 or so member institutions in those two conferences would break away from the other 100 colleges and universities and, before the season begins, guarantee themselves eight of these 16 spots (in the 2026 CFP playoff). This would be unprecedented and this would be the first sign of essentially a breakaway within major college sports. It would, and I’m not the first one to use this as others have said, this would be rigging the system literally before the season begins.”

It is a fair question to ask why a Congressman who, supposedly has more important things to concern himself with, is spending time on college football? Especially Boyle, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

“First I can chew gum and walk at the same time,” he shared. “In the last few weeks I have pulled three all-nighters on the House floor as the budget committee ranking member, the lead Democrat on the budget committee, basically leading the opposition to the reconciliation bill. I was able to do that and still take the 10 seconds to issue the tweet that I did in order to get the Big 10 and SEC’s attention, so that’s number one, these things are not mutually exclusive.

“Number two as to why would a government official and a member of Congress even offer an opinion on these subjects … well, first, anyone who follows my social media knows I’m a passionate Philly sports fan and passionate Notre Dame football fan so I often will opine on sports and express my views.

“But on a more serious point, this is a multi-billion dollar industry,” Boyle continued. “If you were to take the 10-year value of some recent TV contracts, literally over a $1 trillion dollar industry … point to me any other multi-billion dollar or trillion-dollar industry in which government doesn’t have a role in regulating. I think it is appropriate, especially if there’s going to be real harm done to a wide swath of major colleges and universities which, make no mistake about it, would be the impact of the Big 10 and SEC essentially giving the Heisman to the rest of college athletics and separating themselves.”

The House judgment, which has yet to be approved by Wilken, who sits on the 9th District Circuit Court in California, is expected by college administrators any day now. This development has drawn the legislative pen of Topper and Stambaugh, as a lot of money will be flowing to those who have not had it before.

Topper, the state’s House Republican leader, and Stambaugh are introducing legislation that “seeks to minimize student-athlete vulnerabilities and provide stronger institutional frameworks to protect student-athletes’ financial interests. It balances athlete empowerment with reasonable protections.”

Their language will state that institutions of higher education will be required to offer all student-athletes the option to place a portion of their revenue sharing or NIL earnings into trust accounts.  The institutions may partner with established financial institutions experienced in educational trust management to minimize administrative overhead. Additionally, institutions will be mandated to provide financial literacy education and resources to their student-athletes.

“NIL is one of the most dynamic and evolving spaces in the national sports market that has become a life-changing positive for many student-athletes and families. As the NIL landscape continues to advance at the federal level, it is appropriate for state legal supplements to ensure student-athletes are protected at a vulnerable time in their lives,” Topper said.

“It’s the wild, wild west in college sports,” said Stambaugh on the current state of college athletics. “It’s probably the biggest change in college sports since the NCAA was created 120 years ago. “This is something Pennsylvania needs to address, and we need to address it right now.”

Shapiro, a huge sports fan, said Wednesday that he has yet to see Topper and Stambaugh’s proposed legislation, but said that he believes that students who participate in college athletics should be able to get paid.

“I think student athletes should be able to have the freedom to pick which college they want to attend and where they want to bring their talents,” the governor said. “So those underlying principles have to be part of this. But what we have to do is make sure there is some ability for all schools to be able to compete in this space, in all sports, and that it not be the situation where we end up losing athletics for both men and women as a result of this process. The NIL can drive a lot of dollars into one particular sport and choke off others, or one particular area and choke off others. I think it is important that we’re in a position where we’re able to really compete.”

There are states that have codified laws that enable their FBS institutions to not be obligated to follow NCAA rules that are deemed anticompetitive. Tennessee signed Senate Bill 536 into law, giving major protection to college sports programs in the state, including the flagship University of Tennessee, a member of the SEC, as they traverse the new, chaotic NIL landscape. It is one of the most “athlete-friendly” NIL laws in the country, as the law will protect UT and others in the state from antitrust lawsuits while taking some shots at the terms within the settlement.

“I don’t want to do anything that limits their ability to compete,” said Shapiro. “What I want to do is see how we can get schools to be lifted up. I know that there’s been a lot of talk about a broader settlement in this space, in the NCAA. I think that’s a piece of it. I’ve talked to Senator (Cory) Booker, who’s been a leader on this at the federal level. I know they’re thinking about something to do, but I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to exploring what we could do here in the Commonwealth.”

Boyle echoed that sentiment while also sounding a warning about a power play by the B1G and the SEC could drastically hurt two Pennsylvania FBS schools.

“The schools that really have to be nervously watching this, frankly, are schools like Pitt and Temple and the other 100 colleges and universities that are outside the Big 10 and SEC,” he said. “Besides the fact their second class status would now be established for the first time ever, this would really limit their ability to make the playoff which means it would limit their ability to earn a pretty significant amount of revenue.”

Boyle also reinforced why this is becoming more of an issue in Washington, D.C.

“A number of colleges and universities – actually all of them basically – and the major conferences have been coming to Congress asking us to pass legislation on these issues,” he said. “So, in my tweet and in other conversations, I have reminded them that if you’re coming to Congress expecting help, and then you’re turning around and rigging the system and trying to exclude most of the other colleges and universities and doing so in a grotesquely patently unfair way, don’t be surprised if you find an unsympathetic audience in Congress.”

When asked what the end game might be, Boyle sided more with the fan than with the schools. And colleagues on the other side of the aisle agree with his line of thinking.

“If I can make one generalization of what I’m looking out for, I want what is in the best interest for the game,” he said, “the students, and the fans whose passion for all of this is what has led to to all of this money. Any conference or conferences who are going to act in a completely selfish monopolistic way or duopolistic way, that is where I draw the line and have a real problem with. The ramifications of that will not just be for 2026. They will be for many years and and decades to come.”