As college football heads into the final few weeks of the regular season, there’s a broader game heading into the final quarter in Washington, D.C.
The Protect College Sports Act, which passed the Senate in a 77-22 margin, is now headed to the House. If it isn’t passed by the time the new Congress takes over in January, it’ll have to go back to the start of the process.
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College sports officials have been on the offensive throughout most of the year trying to get the sweeping bill passed. It would fundamentally change college sports, with new rules for payments to players, transfers, conference realignment and more.
U.S. Rep Steve Cohen (D-TN) told The Commercial Appeal in a phone interview on Nov. 12 that he hasn’t read the bill yet. But he said he believes Congress has to do something to regulate college sports.
“It’s obvious the NCAA can’t do it,” said Cohen, whose district includes Memphis. “They go to the courts all the time. (LSU football coach) Lane Kiffin went to the courts to try to have pros come back. There needs to be uniform structure. We value, in our country, athletics and college sports. So it should be regulated in a way that doesn’t destroy college sports. Although it may have done that already.”
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen listens to a speaker during a press conference about the future of the historic Clayborn Temple on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, a month after the site was largely destroyed by a fire in Memphis, Tenn.
(Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen listens to a speaker during a press conference about the future of the historic Clayborn Temple on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, a month after the site was largely destroyed by a fire in Memphis, Tenn.
(Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Congressman Steve Cohen speaks during the investiture of Christopher B. Davis, the 14th president of Lemoyne-Owen College, on Friday, April 18, 2025, at the Orpheum in Memphis, Tenn.
(Stu Boyd II-The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen speaks as part of a No Kings rally at Robert R. Church Park in Memphis, Tenn., on March 28, 2026.
(Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen speaks during a press conference announcing a new MSCS accountability and transformation plan in Memphis, Tenn., on March 6, 2026.
(Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen speak with each other before the start of an Investing in America press conference to announce federal funding for a new Interstate 55 bridge in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
(Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Congressman Steve Cohen gives his keynote speech during the 31st Lowery New Year’s Day Prayer Breakfast on Jan. 1, 2026 at the Sheraton Hotel in Memphis, Tenn.
(Stu Boyd II-The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Representative Steve Cohen speaks during the celebration of life for Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, in Memphis, Tenn., on August 11, 2025.
(Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Congressman Steve Cohen speaks during the 57th MLK assassination anniversary ceremony on Friday, April 4, 2025 at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn.
(Stu Boyd II-The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen speak and laugh with each other during a press conference to announce federal funding for a new Interstate 55 bridge in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
(Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Colonel Jason Glass and Congressman Steve Cohen speak to the press around the Pipkin Building for the new FEMA Vaccination Center site in Memphis on Wednesday, April 7, 2021.
(Louis Tucker / For CommercialAppeal.com)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Rep. Steve Cohen dances through sprays of water after he helped cut the ribbon to open the newly renovated Tom Lee Park to the public in Downtown Memphis on Saturday, September 2, 2023.
(Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen shakes hands with Jill Biden on Sunday, March 1, 2020, during a campaign stop at Loflin Yard in Memphis.
(Max Gersh / The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, speaks with 88-year-old Annie Maclin at a “Congress on your corner” event at the Randolph Branch Library on February 22, 2019.
(Daniel Connolly / The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen (left) takes a tour of the nonprofit Hospitality Hub with Kelsey Johnson, Hospitality Hub executive director (right), after having secured $1.7 million in federal funding for the organization located at 590 Washington Avenue in Memphis, Tenn., August 28, 2023.
(Stu Boyd II-The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Congressman Steve Cohen speaks to the press near the Pipkin Building at the fairgrounds for the new FEMA Vaccination Center in Memphis on Wednesday, April 7, 2021.
(Louis Tucker / For CommercialAppeal.com)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen speaks to a crowd protesting Saturday afternoon the firing of former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
(Jennifer Pignolet/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Rep. Steve Cohen await the deboarding of First Lady Jill Biden as she arrives at the Tennessee Air National Guard at Memphis 164th Airlift Wing on Friday, March 25, 2022.
(Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Congressman Steve Cohen speaks at the grand opening of a deicing facility at Memphis International Airport on Nov. 29, 2022 in Memphis.
(Stu Boyd II-The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Rep. Steve Cohen takes a selfie with LaVerne McQuerter-Bobo as she waits in line to vote at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church during the first day of early voting in Memphis, Tenn. On Wednesday, Oct 14, 2020.
(Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, left, and Mayor Jim Strickland talk with Joe Kerley, lead instructor at the Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks Job Corps Center, on Thursday, May 6, 2021, in Memphis, Tenn.
(Ariel Cobbert / The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Rep. Steve Cohen chats with people in line to vote at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church during the first day of early voting in Memphis, Tenn. On Wednesday, Oct 14, 2020.
(Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), Joseph Vaughn, executive director of the VA Medical Center, Trina Weathers-Boyce and other family members stand next to the newly unveiled sign for the VA named in honor of Tuskegee Airman Luke Weathers, Jr.
(Jacob Wilt)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Congressman Steve Cohen speaks at civic and community celebration of Dr. James Lavirt Netters Sr., at Mount Vernon Baptist Church Westwood in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, December 19, 2020.
(Ariel Cobbert/The Commercial Appeal)
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Photos: U.S. Rep. David Kustoff through the years
Congressman Steve Cohen, left, and Congressman David Krustoff, right, embrace during the opening of Concourse B on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, at Memphis International Airport.
(Christine Tannous / The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Melrose High alumni and Congressman Steve Cohen learn the space they are standing in will be a children’s library as the state granted $3 million for the Melrose High redevelopment site, on Monday, November, 27, 2023 at the Melrose High at 843 Dallas Street in Memphis, Tenn.
(Stu Boyd II-The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen (left) takes a tour of the nonprofit Hospitality Hub with Kelsey Johnson, Hospitality Hub executive director (right), after having secured $1.7 million in federal funding for the organization located at 590 Washington Avenue in Memphis, Tenn., August 28, 2023.
(Stu Boyd II-The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen speaks Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, during a press conference at the National Association of Letter Carriers Merged Branch 27 office in Memphis.
(Max Gersh, Max Gersh / The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
February 26, 2019 – Rep. Steve Cohen speaks during a memorial service for the late Judge Russell Sugarmon at Metropolitan Baptist Church on Tuesday. An attorney, retired judge, former state representative and civil rights champion, Sugarmon, 89, died on Feb. 18 at his home, following a long illness.
(Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Congressman Steve Cohen speaks during an announcement for $3 million grant for the Melrose High redevelopment site, on Monday, November, 27, 2023 at the Melrose High at 843 Dallas Street in Memphis, Tenn.
(Stu Boyd II-The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
April 18, 2019 – U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen talks with media about the Mueller Report while in his office Thursday afternoon.
(Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S.. Congressman Steve Cohen speaks during the statue unveiling of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, the African American civil rights advocate and journalist who fought against racism, segregation and lynching, in the new Ida B. Wells Plaza on Beale Street on Friday, July 16, 2021.
(Ariel Cobbert/ Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
First Lady Jill Biden greets Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, from left, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and Rep. Steve Cohen as she arrives at the Tennessee Air National Guard at Memphis 164th Airlift Wing on Friday, March 25, 2022.
(Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Congressman Steve Cohen speaks to the crowd gathered in downtown Memphis for the Women’s March on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019.
(Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Rep. Steve Cohen speaks in during a roundtable with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg at the FedEx Experience Center in Memphis, Tenn. on Thursday, June 3, 2021.
(Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen gets a tour of an ambulance similar to the two Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital will order with $1 million in federal funding secured by Cohen.
(Corinne Kennedy | The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
Rep. Steve Cohen looks over the closed Hernando De Soto bridge which carries Interstate 40 across the Mississippi River between West Memphis, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday, June 3, 2021. The bridge has been shut down, halting traffic on the thoroughfare since May 11, 2021 after a fracture was discovered.
(Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal)
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U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen through the years
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen collects signatures to be on the ballot Sunday, March 1, 2020, during a campaign stop by Jill Biden at Loflin Yard in Memphis.
(Max Gersh / The Commercial Appeal)
Cohen — who dropped out of the race for a redrawn 9th district and will leave Congress in January — said he’s spoken only briefly with officials from the University of Memphis about the bill, but he said school president Bill Hardgrave told him that he supports it. Memphis football coach Charles Huff was in Washington earlier this year to urge Congress to act.
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It’s still unclear if the bill will get a vote before the end of the year.
Cohen also said he’s talked with American Conference commissioner Tim Pernetti about the PCSA. They discussed added financial planning training for athletes who are now being paid hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars, something Cohen said he would like to be in the bill.
On the subject of transfers, Cohen said he isn’t sure players should be able to transfer without sitting out a year (as they previously were required to do before the transfer rules were changed in 2021). The PCSA would allow for athletes to transfer freely one time before having to sit out a year if they transferred again. Cohen referred to Huff’s comments earlier in the week about how he uses rumors that he’ll leave for another job to help him in recruiting by saying the players can come with him.
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“Coach Huff’s saying if he goes to Maryland, he’s going to take all our players with him,” Cohen said. “That’s not the way it ought to work. If the coach leaves and goes from one school to another, I don’t think the players should be permitted to go with him.”
On the subject of conference realignment, Cohen said he still needs to read through the full bill but echoed comments from numerous local officials that are hoping Memphis moves out of the American and into a power conference.
“It’d be wonderful if we were in a better conference, if it could happen,” he said.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
