WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, released this statement regarding President Trump’s executive order about college sports:
“This Executive Order identifies some of the key issues facing college sports, including continued funding for women’s and Olympic sports. Congress should continue to have bipartisan discussions about how to increase revenue to meet these goals. I’m glad to know the President wants Congress to pass something.”
Last month, Sen. Cantwell released a bipartisan discussion draft of the College Sports Competitive Act that would amend the Sports Broadcasting Act to allow colleges to pool their media rights in broadcast negotiations, which some have estimated would generate more than $9 billion in new revenue for college sports, and would preserve women’s and Olympic sports.
In December of last year, she introduced the Helping Undergraduate Students Thrive with Long-Term Earnings (HUSTLE Act) with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) so that college athletes earning NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) money can protect more of it for their post-playing lives.
In October, Sen. Cantwell joined former college and professional athletes and Sens. Booker and Blumenthal in warning that the SCORE Act would roll-back hard fought NIL rights and health protections, leave athletes vulnerable to unscrupulous agents, short-change women’s and Olympic sports and shut the door on collective bargaining rights.
Last September, Sen. Cantwell, joined by co-sponsors Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), introduced the Student Athlete Fairness and Enforcement (SAFE) Act to codify athletes’ rights and protections in law, expand revenue for all schools, support women’s and Olympic sports and bring much-needed stability to the college sports system. Sen. Cantwell also released a report showing how skyrocketing media rights payments have exacerbated a massive financial gap between traditional power conferences, especially the new Power 2—the SEC and Big Ten—and everyone else. In August, she wrote to the presidents and chancellors of more than 350 Division I universities and their governing bodies, warning about the dangers that the SCORE Act poses to the future of college athletics.
On July 14, 2025, Sen. Cantwell and Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R, WA-05) sent a letter strongly opposing the SCORE Act.
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