Cruz met with jeers on ESPN’s College Gameday during appearance advocating for Senate college sports bill

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) appeared on ESPN’s College Gameday Saturday morning to make the case for the Protect College Sports Act , a bipartisan piece of legislation that would regulate the big business of the industry.

Cruz, who was in Austin ahead of the Longhorns’ primetime showdown with Ohio State University, spoke with ESPN host Rece Davis at length about the bill — which would set national standards on multiple key issues within college sports, such as name, image and likeness compensation for student athletes, revenue sharing and the transfer portal.

“The current situation is nuts …. the reason Congress is acting is because Congress created this problem,” Cruz said as the crowd in Austin, a college town in an area that has voted blue in several recent elections, booed in the background.

He added, “The bill is very simple. It brings order to chaos; it protects the students and their ability to be compensated … but it also puts reasonable rules in place.”

As the Republican senator continued to speak, chants of “Ted – you – suck” came from the program’s live audience.

“Most college athletic programs are losing tens of millions of dollars , and as a result , they’re canceling women’s programs and non – revenue sports and Olympics sports,” Cruz said. “If we don’t act, in three to five years we’re going to see 40 to 50 schools that have competitive football programs and everyone else goes under. That would be a tragedy.”

Critics of the Protect College Sports Act contend it hands the NCAA and its member schools too much power and would limit the earning potential of top student athletes, a position Cruz pushed back on.

“Every single student can still earn name image and likeness money,” he said. “What this bill does is prohibit is a booster in a back alley showing up with a bag of cash and doing things under the table.”

Cruz has worked on the piece of legislation for months with a bipartisan group of senators, including Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Chris Coons (D-Del). The Texas senator said he expects the Protect College Sports Act to see a vote in the Upper Chamber this week, when lawmakers return from summer recess.

He added he was “confident” the team of lawmakers can get to 60 votes on the bill.

Cruz is seen by many as a potential 2028 Republican presidential candidate and has played an active role in this year’s midterms — backing Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton (R) in his race against Democrat James Talarico.