The recent federal efforts to bring stability to college athletics have met resistance from the Big 10 and the SEC. While there is strong agreement on issues concerning the portal and eligibility, the two major conferences do not align with the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) on media rights and congressional overreach. On the other hand, the NCAA is fully behind the Cruz-Cantwell bill. But can its passing lead to the SEC taking drastic steps?

“They’ll have a hard time running national championships if they do that because everybody won’t have the same rules,” said NCAA President Charlie Baker during his July 5 interview on Face the Nation with Ed O’Keefe when asked about the chances of the SEC going independent if the legislation goes through. “I actually like and respect a lot of the people at Georgia, in particular, and at Ole Miss, and at LSU, and at a whole bunch of those schools, who I deal with on a pretty regular basis.”

“I think the possibility of trying to figure out some way to determine what really has to be a national standard to have national championships. What you probably could do at a conference level, because it doesn’t necessarily affect our ability to run national championships on a level playing field, could be one way to think about it.”

Even before the recent disagreement between the SEC and the NCAA over PCSA, the likes of Kirby Smart have floated the idea of the conference operating independently. During the May 2026 SEC spring meetings, the Georgia head coach raised eyebrows by suggesting that if everyone in college athletics can’t agree on the same rules, the SEC should play on its own.

“I’m not afraid to break away and say that our conference is strong enough to go out and play… If we could actually function financially, it would make our programs more stable,” Smart said, as per On3.

Even Georgia President Jere Morehead agreed with Kirby Smart. “I think that would be fantastic,” Morehead told The Athletic in May 2026. “I can’t imagine the ratings if that happened. Georgia-Alabama SEC championship last year had ratings through the roof. Imagine if that had been for the national championship? I think our fanbase is strong across the country.”

The main disagreement between the SEC and the Big 10 concerns the media rights pooling portion of the PCSA. The federal legislation will allow smaller conferences and schools to combine their media rights, similar to how it happens in the NFL in its revenue-sharing model.

Considering the massive TV deals that the SEC and the Big Ten have with CBS, FOX, and ESPN, it will totally disrupt their revenue model. Moreover, there is a threat that power will shift away from the respective conferences under the new legislation.

But Baker argues SEC independence won’t work in practice. You can say the SEC’s choice to part ways is a completely hypothetical scenario. Even the chances of the Cruz-Cantwell bill passing are uncertain. Paul Finebaum said the bill won’t go far.