Unintended consequence of the Protect College Sports Act

It may encourage booting members from prestigious P2/P4 conferences.

As drafted, it caps conference membership at 19 schools. it also prevents P4 on P4 violence by imposing a very harsh requirement that a school leaving a P4 conference for another P4 conference must spend five years as independent. This does not apply to independent or G6 schools who wish to move to a P4 conference.

There is absolutely no protection for schools who get the boot from a P4 conference, and it is ambiguous if the five year independent purgatory rule would apply to them.

I could conceive of a situation where the B1G, who is clearly holding out for Notre Dame, realizes that the Irish aren't joining up anytime soon. So they add North Carolina instead, to the chagrin of the ACC and SEC.

Say five years later, Notre Dame finally contacts the B1G and says it is time. The B1G has no more membership slots. Tough luck, Purdue. Enjoy your life in the Pac.

It needed some teeth on booting members: maybe the conference has to pay the booted member its share for a number of years. Maybe that emptied slot is locked out for a decade, so the conference operates a member down instead of upgrading instantly.

The better rule would to simply not have Congress impose a membership cap. Their effort to prevent consolidation are comically too late, and their attempt to intervene may simply exacerbate the problem.