One key difference between Senate negotiators and the conferences still holding out on proposed legislation to regulate college sports is whether language in the bill would truly create a “hard salary cap” that would eliminate many third-party payments that have sent roster costs skyrocketing.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee and cosponsor of the bill, sent out a social media post that said “The cap is a hard cap. Full stop. That loophole is closed.”
But the refusal by the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference to sign off on changes to the Protect College Sports Act during a frenzied week of negotiating is a sign that they do not agree with Cruz's assessment and would like to see stronger language in the bill.
The Senate broke for the weekend late Thursday without taking action on the bill. It goes on vacation next Friday and the likelihood of the bill reaching a vote before then has grown slim.
One of the key concessions made over the past week was the addition of an up to $27.5 million (up from $25 million) “retention pool" that could be used to keep players on rosters. It would be added to the $21.3 million salary cap already in place to make the new number $48.8 million.
The new cap would then presumably include many of the third-party name, image, likeness deals that circumvent the current cap — many arranged by schools' multimedia rights groups. The bill would restrict future third-party deals to what Cruz called truly “open market” deals.
The Senate negotiators say language in the bill already does that.
“Some commissioners want more: bar any company doing business with a school from signing that school’s players,” Cruz said in his post. “So a QB couldn’t sign with Nike because Nike has a separate contract with his university. That’s not protecting a cap. That’s blocking a kid from selling his own name.”
A letter to the conferences from a key negotiator, obtained by Yahoo Sports, spelled out how the language in the bill deals with the commissioners' concerns.
The letter also addressed concerns that the new salary cap would blow past revenue-sharing amounts established in the House settlement, which dictates the terms of paying players.
“To the extent the current House settlement framework or its implementation treats these payments differently, federal statute, and the rules that are protected by it, trump the settlement,” it said.
The letter did not explain how and plaintiffs' attorney Jeffrey Kessler has said he would need to see the legislation before weighing in on how it impacts the settlement.
The NCAA, which has supported the bill, put out a statement from President Charlie Baker acknowledging the shrinking window to get this done.
“While no bill is perfect, I implore college sports leaders and Senators to support this bill now," Baker said. "It is our best chance to deliver the benefits and level playing field student-athletes deserve while providing the protections institutions need to sustain college athletics long-term.”
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
FILE - Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, left, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, speaks with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., right, before a hearing Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson,File)
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — The two police officers focused first on Lindsay Clancy drifting in and out of consciousness in the snow after jumping from her Massachusetts home's second-floor window. Within minutes, they were racing into the basement after her then-husband screamed that all three of their children were dead.
“I can’t wake them up — I can’t get them up!” he frantically told the officers who, along with firefighters and paramedics, gave jurors firsthand accounts on Thursday of the aftermath.
The murder trial has centered on Clancy’s mental state at the time. Her lawyers do not dispute that she strangled the children with exercise bands. But they say she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.
Prosecutors say Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, acted intentionally and is criminally responsible for the deaths in January 2023.
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org
The testimony came after jurors spent two days listening to testimony from Patrick Clancy and his anguished 911 call. He was still on the phone when he discovered the bodies of 3-year-old Dawson, 5-year-old Cora, and 8-month-old Callan, minutes after returning home from an errand his wife asked him to run.
Patrick Clancy has said in interviews that he forgives his ex-wife, whom he viewed as ill rather than evil. The trial marks the first time he has seen Lindsay Clancy since the killings.
She remains paralyzed from the waist down after using multiple methods to try to end her life that night. She says a voice told her, “This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself,” according to her lawyer.
Officers Stephen Hall and Brian Josephine testified Thursday that they were each dispatched separately to the house in Duxbury, a coastal town south of Boston. Hall said they arrived to find Patrick Clancy yelling for help from behind the home.
Patrick Clancy testified earlier this week that his injured wife told him the kids were in the basement, but she didn't say they were dead.
When the officers followed the sound of his screams downstairs, only 8-month-old Callan had a faint pulse, Josephine testified.
“Based on my training experience from previous incidents, I knew it wasn’t going to be good,” Josephine said. They began rendering aid with help from firefighters.
PJ Hussey, a fire department supervisor, arrived in time to glimpse through a basement window as Patrick Clancy unwrapped an exercise band from his child's neck.
“It turned very chaotic very quickly” as more ambulances rushed to the house, Hussey testified. Duxbury firefighter and paramedic Jennifer Stratton said the infant never regained a pulse.
If convicted of murder, Lindsay Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.
In opening arguments Monday, her attorney said she had bipolar disorder, and that antidepressants prescribed after the birth of her third child worsened her condition.
Patrick Clancy testified about his wife’s deteriorating mental health in the months leading up to the killings. He said she told him about intrusive thoughts of harming the children, as well as thoughts of suicide.
She sought care from experts in postpartum mood disorders and was put on multiple psychiatric medications. When nothing worked, she checked into a psychiatric hospital. She killed the children 19 days after she was discharged.
Clancy and her ex-husband accuse her medical providers of failing to properly diagnose, treat and monitor her, according to lawsuits filed earlier this year.
A wedding photo is seen in a bin of papers during the murder trial for Lindsay Clancy at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., on Thursday, July 30, 2026. (CJ Gunther/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Duxbury firefighter Jennifer Stratton testifies during the murder trial for Lindsay Clancy at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., on Thursday, July 30, 2026. (CJ Gunther/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Kevin Reddington, defense attorney gestures as he cross-examines a witness during the murder trial for Lindsay Clancy at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., on Thursday, July 30, 2026. (CJ Gunther/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Defendant Lindsay Clancy listens during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., on Thursday, July 30, 2026. (CJ Gunther/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Duxbury firefighter Richard Dwyer testifies during the murder trial for Lindsay Clancy at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., on Thursday, July 30, 2026. (CJ Gunther/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Patrick Clancy reacts as images of himself and his children on vacation a month before they were killed is shown in the courtroom at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, July 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Lindsay Clancy waits for the judge to call a prospective jury member into court in her murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington and Lindsay Clancy listen to the 911 recording from Jan. 24, 2023, during Clancy's murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Patrick Clancy sits on the stand during the Lindsay Clancy murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Lindsay Clancy attends her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
