USA TODAY Calls Out 'College GameDay' In Scathing Column
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ESPN’s “College GameDay” has been considered the No. 1 show for college football for decades. While it remains incredibly popular, last Saturday’s episode struck a nerve with countless viewers.
During this past Saturday’s edition of “College GameDay,” ESPN host Rece Davis interviewed U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. They spent the majority of the interview discussing the Protect College Sports Act, which is designed to establish “requirements for agreements for college student athletes and provides a limited antitrust exemption for schools and conferences to pool and sell certain college sports media rights.”
Despite being booed by countless fans in Austin last weekend, Cruz explained why he’s all for the Protect College Sports Act being passed.
“There are no rules, and the situation with the transfer portal, where kids go and transfer two, three, four, five times, it’s terrible for the game. It’s terrible for the players. It’s terrible for the schools, and it’s terrible for the families,” Cruz told Davis, via AL.com. “And so, the reason Congress is acting is because Congress created this problem. It was the federal antitrust laws that were used to bring the lawsuits that struck down all the rules, and so the Protect College Sports Act is bipartisan legislation that’s very simple.
“It brings order to chaos. It protects the students, protects the student’s ability to be compensated to receive name, image, and likeness compensation, I think that’s only fair. It’s only right.”
Did ESPN mess up having Cruz on “College GameDay” last weekend?
Blake Toppmeyer of USA Today Sports ripped ESPN and Nick Saban to shreds in his newest column Wednesday. For those who don’t know, Saban has been pushing for the Protect College Sports Act for a while now.
Toppmeyer spent a good portion of his column criticizing Saban for pushing “political propaganda” on the latest episode of “College GameDay”.
“Cruz’s stumping for his legislation on “GameDay” was the latest example of ESPN allowing its popular Saturday morning pregame show to be used as a platform for political advocacy. Nick Saban campaigned for the PCSA on “GameDay” a week before Cruz’s appearance, while Pat McAfee cheered on Saban and encouraged Congress to act,” Toppmeyer wrote in his latest column.
“Saban is knee deep in the politics of this. He’s President Trump’s anointed mouthpiece for federal action to govern college sports. Saban appears on televised advertisements in support of the PCSA, and he turned “GameDay” into another advertisement for the PCSA, disguised as ESPN programming. As “GameDay” talent shilled for the bill to become law, ESPN never disclosed to viewers Disney has a vested interest in this, after lobbying for the PCSA.”
Earlier this week, the Senate voted 74-24 to move the Protect College Sports Act to a final vote. Suffice to say, a decision should be coming this college football season.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Sep 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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