Pat McAfee, Nick Saban call on Congress to pass Protect College Sports Act on ‘College GameDay’

There are few bigger platforms in sports than College GameDay. And Nick Saban and Pat McAfee used their bully pulpits to urge Congress to pass the Protect College Sports Act.

It was natural for GameDay to address the situation in Baton Rouge, which is currently the epicenter of the drama engulfing college athletics, following Lane Kiffin’s attempt to play players who were in NFL training camps this summer and had signed professional contracts.

The discussion looked and sounded a lot like other debates over the past year, with all the panelists discussing the fundamental issues currently facing the sport. But it did feature something new: a specific call to the United States Congress to pass the Protect College Sports Act, which has been sitting on the sidelines for weeks.

The crew discusses the situation that’s unfolding at LSU and the current state of college sports. pic.twitter.com/uYGyyD1tmy

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 5, 2026

“I’m a big proponent of the Protect College Sports Act. I think it puts some guardrails and gives us an opportunity for leadership that can implement some rules that will control transferring, five years of eligibility, a little bit of control, a cap in terms of how much players can make, which is still a significant amount, which I’m all for. So there’s a lot of good things in this, and I think it’s 80% good, not perfect, but it will help college sports and give us some guidelines of how we move forward in the future,” Saban said.

Saban’s support for the Protect College Sports Act goes far beyond his College GameDay comments. The former Alabama coach testified before the Senate Commerce Committee to push for the bill. He even has a commercial advocating for the legislation from Saving College Sports, a 501(c) (4) organization built around the reforms.

Nick Saban commercial promoting the passing of the Protect College Sports Act has been released https://t.co/RKh2oSmNZtpic.twitter.com/8UPWqnmlvu

— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) September 2, 2026

But Nick Saban wasn’t alone. Pat McAfee joined him in calling on Congress to approve the bill.

“I appreciate utilizing your stature as a human to sign up to get into the politics world, which is an absolute nightmare from my understanding, but it’s really our only option at this point,” McAfee said. That should have come with a dose of irony given McAfee’s own very personal involvement in the political world.

“We have nothing really that can be followable, that’s why we need this Protect College Sports Act to pass, even though some people don’t think it’s perfect, it’s voting this week, I think, right? Hey DC, I know you guys just went to recess or something, playing on the monkey bars and all that type of stuff; let’s get to work to save college sports because this is the greatest thing in the world,” he added.

While the Protect College Sports Act was crafted in a bipartisan manner, there are still serious questions about whether it’s the right fix to bring order and sanity to college athletics. It’s been opposed by both the NAACP and AFL-CIO. Earlier this summer, the Congressional Black Caucus also said it could not support the legislation in its current form. A vote was supposed to happen in August, but was pushed back due to concerns and opposition. Even though Nick Saban and Pat McAfee are on board, the legislation still faces an uphill climb for passage.

It also calls into question how transparent Saban should be about his true advocacy for the legislation. It’s the same thing we saw last year, when he was advising his former assistant, Lane Kiffin, behind the scenes about his impending move from Ole Miss to LSU without disclosing it on air. That led College GameDay to break the fourth wall with online speculation circling about whether the powerful sports agency CAA was actually pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Everyone agrees there is much-needed reform in college sports, especially at the highest levels of football. Of course, McAfee, Saban, and others in the college sports world are free to share their opinions and perspectives as two of the biggest advocates for college football today.

But it is worth asking just how comfortable ESPN is (or even should be) with two of its biggest stars pushing congressional legislation without providing for an opposing viewpoint to be shared. Could you imagine the nuclear reactions if some of ESPN’s more left-leaning stars began using their airtime to call on Congress to pass certain legislation or even endorse political candidates? Perhaps this is an exception given how directly it applies to sports, but it could also be a very slippery slope for the network if they aren’t careful.

If the Act does eventually pass, Sens. Ted Cruz and Eric Schmitt, key sponsors of the bipartisan bill, have said they look forward to President Donald Trump signing it on GameDay. So perhaps those concerns have already been thrown to the wayside.

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