ESPN’s College GameDay used the first two shows of this college football season to controversially push the Protect College Sports Act, from Pat McAfee and Nick Saban calling on Congress to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) stumping for the legislation he co-authored.
On Friday, GameDay host Rece Davis and analyst Kirk Herbstreit tip-toed around ESPN’s “easy decision” to welcome Cruz and their individual stances on the Protect College Sports Act.
Chris Simms, meanwhile, had no reservations about calling out ESPN and U.S. politicians.
“First off, it’s stupid they’re even involved,” Simms said during PFT Live on Wednesday. “We’ve got so many issues in this country, in this world. It’s embarrassing. I mean, it’s embarrassing. But we’re worried about, you know, some young kids making money in college football.”
Sarcastically, Simms continued, “Oh, wait, hold on. It’s really hurting. Oh, that’s right. More people watched college football than ever before. It made more money than ever before. Oh, hold on. It’s struggling! It needs to be saved!”
Then, Simms really settled in to deliver a multi-pronged, potent kill shot:
“Let’s call this what this is. This is ‘Save the ESPN and the SEC Contract Act.’ That’s what this is. That’s all it is. ESPN paid a lot of money for the SEC, and it’s, Oh, no! The SEC might not be king anymore! The Big Ten won the last three national championships! The SEC wasn’t even in one of the three. Oh, no, we’ve lost our grip. We want to go back to the old rules, somewhat, to where everybody else follows rules, and we’re the SEC; we’ll cheat and pay people under the table. And we liked it that way better. That’s the way we want it.
“Because, now, schools that have money, and we’ve made it legal — Notre Dame and Miami and all that endless money — we can’t compete with that. Their alumni is too rich. What are we gonna do? So, we have to Save the ESPN and the SEC Contract Act, and that’s why ESPN gave Ted Cruz that [platform].
“What a stupid thing on GameDay to have. How stupid. You’re gonna bring in that bullcrap, politics, into it for the biggest game of the year? That was an embarrassment. An embarrassment. I wish Ted Cruz would fly to some other country and avoid this altogether. Go to Cancun, like you did when everybody was frozen in Texas, alright? Do that.
“It’s so stupid that our politicians are worried about this while they’re fixing nothing in the rest of the country. Nothing! Nothing at all. The country is more divided and ruined more than ever in my lifetime, but we’re worried about the Save the ESPN and the SEC Contract Act. Good job, Randy Levine.”
Mike Florio offered his own disgust, renaming the Protect College Sports Act as the “Screw the College Players Act.” Florio has been consistent in his opposition to the legislation, which aims to grant the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption and shift power away from players in the NIL era.
On Thursday, Florio interviewed Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and asked him, among several things, why the Protect College Sports Act should not pass.
“I don’t think we need to maintain an exploitative system in order to enjoy college sports,” Murphy said. “My constituents who root for all of these players who play for UConn football [or] UConn basketball don’t want them to be treated badly. That’s what’s happening right now. College sports is a $14 billion industry, and the adults who run the industry don’t want to share the revenue with the most valuable participants, the athletes, and that’s just a matter of fundamental fairness.”
Last Tuesday, Derrick Johnson, the CEO and 19th president of the NAACP, appeared on SportsCenter and expressed criticisms similar to Murphy’s and Simms’s.
Also on Tuesday, the Protect College Sports Act passed in a procedural first vote. A final Senate vote is expected sooner rather than later. An updated Protect College Sports Act text circulated Thursday night, per CBS’s Brandon Marcello.
About Megan Armstrong
Since first getting published as a student by the Kansas City Star in 2013, Megan Armstrong has gone wherever curiosity and stories have taken her, specializing in sports, media, music, and culture coverage. She also has an extensive background in interviewing and profiling public figures. Her work has appeared in Billboard, Boardroom, Bleacher Report, Esquire, GQ, GRAMMY.com, NYLON, Newsweek, Teen Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter, UPROXX, and elsewhere.