WASHINGTON (AP) — Two key senators involved in a long-simmering debate over fixing college sports will introduce a bipartisan bill designed to break a congressional logjam that would regulate payments to players, limit them to one “free” transfer over their careers and create a “Lane Kiffin Rule” to restrict coach movement during the season.

Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the chair and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee that oversees college sports, briefed The Associated Press on details of the bill they crafted in hopes it can get the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate.

“This is a stability bill, not just an NIL bill,” Cruz said, referencing the name, image and likeness payments that have led to football rosters with $30 million payrolls and reshaped the industry.

Cantwell said she and Cruz teamed on the legislation "because he and I really do believe the college sports system is in a bit of chaos.”

The bill looks very much like a “best of” pair of legislative proposals — one called SCORE, another called SAFE — that have gone nowhere over the past several months. It contains two elements the NCAA has supported: a limited antitrust exemption and a clause that would preempt much of the patchwork of state laws currently regulating NIL.

College sports has been looking to Washington for help as it grapples with rising costs of paying players and an out-of-control transfer portal that have threatened smaller sports, many involving women, that make up the backbone of the U.S. Olympic pipeline.

This bill, called the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA), would offer what Cruz and Cantwell said was very “targeted” antitrust protection — which was part of the largely Republican-backed SCORE Act that many Democrats opposed. That would be in exchange for what Cruz said would be “public-facing protections" for athletes in 10 areas, including guarantees for health insurance and scholarships and more stringent regulations for NIL deals from third parties.

“I think it's better predictability,” Cantwell said. “Why did we do it? Because when you've got thousands of athletes being cut, hundreds of programs being cut, the risk to the whole infrastructure was too high to not try to get better predictability.”

The bill would limit players to one unrestricted transfer over the course of their college careers — a widely supported idea across the country — and would adopt something close to the five-year eligibility period that the NCAA appears ready to enact next month.

The bill also tries to regulate coaching movement. Kiffin's sudden move to LSU from rival Mississippi while the Rebels were preparing for the College Football Playoff last season put a fine point on an issue that has only gotten worse in an era where teams spend millions to fill out rapidly shifting football rosters: Schools have less patience (and more money) to devote to hiring coaches for a quick fix.

Under the terms of the bill, midseason coaching changes would be prohibited.

“It's not fair or right to poach a coach in the middle of the season while the team is still competing," Cruz said. "There’s a reason the NFL has a rule that you can’t do that. Obviously, NFL teams hire coaches away from each other but they don’t do so in the middle of the season.”

The bill would rework the Sports Broadcasting Act to allow conferences to pool their TV rights — a move proponents have said could add billions of dollars to the ecosystem in a conclusion the Southeastern and Big Ten Conferences believe is inaccurate.

The senators said leagues wouldn't be required to join the media pooling but those that do would have to use a percentage of any increase from that to support women's and Olympic sports. That alone could be a dealbreaker for the SEC.

“If you do nothing, then obviously, all these other women's and Olympic sports and less revenue-driven activities are going to suffer,” Cantwell said. “I've heard directly from my institutions, they say they're counting on this. Not creating this stability now would be a missed opportunity.”

The SCORE Act, which garnered little support from Democrats, was on the House schedule last week but was abruptly pulled off when the Congressional Black Caucus and NAACP came out against it.

But even if it had squeaked by in the razor-tight House, it had virtually no chance of passing as written in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to break a possible filibuster.

“The Congressional Black Caucus and I have the same objective: stop the ‘SEC SCORE Act,’” said Cantwell, referencing the SEC as one of dozens of conferences that have supported that bill.

Some Democrats were reluctant to support a bill, like SCORE, that prohibited college athletes from being classified as employees of their schools. The new bill takes what Cantwell said was a “neutral” stance on the issue of employment.

“Senator Cruz and I have been very concerned about producing a bill that's not just about the 1% of athletes who go on and have a professional career," she said. "We took care of the entire ecosystem and have opportunities for athletes to continue to have that collegiate experience.”

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Southeastern Conference will require all of its student-athletes to watch a sports gambling educational video ahead of the 2026-27 athletic year. 

The SEC said Wednesday the video "will be incorporated into each institution’s student-athlete education requirements and will provide clear, practical guidance on recognizing risks, understanding Conference and NCAA policies, and knowing how to report concerns."

The video was custom-made for the SEC and will be a mandatory watch for all student-athletes before the start of their respective regular season. 

The new requirement comes amid reports that the NCAA declined to reinstate Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby's eligibility after he admitted to gambling on several sports, including his own team as a freshman at Indiana. 

LSU itself is no stranger to the Pandora's box opened by the recent popularization of sports betting. Former LSU wide receiver Kayshon Boutte was arrested by Louisiana State Police for allegedly placing 9,000 illegal wagers before he turned 21 while he was playing for the Tigers. Those charges were later dropped. 

The SEC cited national surveys that show 67 percent of 18-to-22-year-olds living on college campuses have engaged in at least one sports betting activity. 

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ZACHARY - The Zachary Broncos are hosting their annual Legacy Basketball Camp this week for young kids in the community.

The camps is coached by current and former Zachary basketball players. All of the former players in attendance are current college basketball players themselves.

The camp welcomes kids aged 4-14 to participate and learn the basics of the game of basketball like ball handling, passing, shooting layups and free throws and even get to play in three-on-three and five-on-five games.

The camp runs from Tuesday until Friday from 8 a.m. until noon each day. 

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BATON ROUGE - LSU relief pitcher Mavrick Rizy is planning to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, per Pete Nakos of On3.

NEW: LSU RHP Mavrick Rizy plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, @PeteNakos reports.

Rizy posted a 4.22 ERA with 28 strikeouts this season. https://t.co/rPNv1v38f9 pic.twitter.com/GSTcjRAky6

— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal) May 26, 2026

Rizy spent the last two seasons in Baton Rouge and appeared in 44 games with a 4.50 ERA and 57 strikeouts during that time.

This season, the sophomore made 20 appearances and allowed 18 hits, 13 runs, 19 walks, 8 wild pitches and 7 hit batters. He also struck out 28 strikeouts for a 4.22 ERA.

Rizy is the first confirmed LSU Tiger to announce plans to enter the portal. The transfer portal opens on June 1.

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SACRAMENTO — The Athletics are expected to call up former LSU pitcher Gage Jump to their major league roster, according to reports from ESPN.

Jump played at LSU in the 2024 season and posted a 6-2 record with a 3.47 ERA. He was the 73rd selection in the 2024 MLB Draft by the team then known as the Oakland Athletics.

The Athletics currently play home games in Sacramento with a planned move to Las Vegas in 2028. The club began referring to itself only as the Athletics last year.

Jump is considered one of the top left-handed pitching prospects in baseball. He has been clocked at 97 mph on his fastball with Triple-A Las Vegas and has 56 strikeouts in 38 innings.

ESPN ranked Jump, a Southern California native, No. 42 in its preseason rankings of MLB prospects.

The Athletics are 27-27 on the season and have one of the worst strikeout pitching staffs in baseball.

In his lone season at LSU, Jump struck out 101 batters in 83 innings of work and posted a 3.47 ERA. He held opposing batters to a .218 batting average.

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BATON ROUGE - While it was widely expected to be true nearly two weeks ago, the LSU Tiger baseball team officially missed out on the NCAA postseason as they failed to earn an at-large bid to the upcoming tournament.

The NCAA baseball selection show was broadcast on Monday morning and as expected Jay Johnson and his LSU baseball team did not hear their name called after finishing one of the worst seasons in school history.

2011 was the last time LSU failed to advance on to NCAA Regional play.

The Tigers just wrapped up a 30-28 season with a 9-21 record in SEC play, those are the fewest conference wins for an LSU team since 1978.

Following the teams loss in the SEC Tournament head coach Jay Johnson said that he would use the down time to develop a plan that will focus on making sure a season like this does not happen again under his watch.

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BATON ROUGE - Despite their season ending in the Tuscaloosa Super Regional, LSU softball feels confident in their future.

Head coach Beth Torina stressed to her team after the loss to No. 1 Alabama, that it's important to stack the wins in the regular season and secure a top-8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Torina feels playing in their home ballpark for the NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals would give LSU the advantage and a better shot at making the Women's College World Series. The Tigers haven't made it to Oklahoma City since 2017.

With the 2026 season in the rearview mirror, LSU hopes to retain a lot of experienced, key players in 2027. Jalia Lassiter, Paytn Monticelli, Maci Bergeron and Avery Hodge are all impact players that have run out of eligibility.

The Tigers should retain some of their top hitters in Kylee and Tori Edwards. The pair combined for 85 RBI and 22 home runs in 2026.

LSU also plans to bring back two of their best pitchers in Jayden Heavener and CeCe Cellura, who combined for a 2.93 ERA and 178 strikeouts.

Torina also brings in the No. 3 overall recruiting class for next season. The group features two 5-star players at pitcher and outfield. The class also features 4-stars at catcher, pitcher and outfield.

It's common to have players transfer in and out of programs, so there will be movement there as well for LSU. The NCAA transfer portal opens on Jun. 8 and will close on Jun. 22.

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BATON ROUGE - Former U-High quarterback Emile Picarella is departing the LSU football program. Picarella redshirted during his freshman season and didn't see any game action, but was ranked as a top 50 player in the state of Louisiana in the class of 2025.

Along with Sam Leavitt, Husan Longstreet and Landen Clark, the Tigers also added former Middle Tennessee State QB Kaden Martin to the quarterback room. Martin is the son of LSU offensive analyst Tee Martin.

Before joining the Tigers as a preferred walk-on, Picarella had offers from other SEC schools, including Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Kentucky.

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TROY, Ala. - Louisiana baseball won a pair of games against Texas State to advance to the Sun Belt Tournament Championship. After losing earlier in the tournament to the Bobcats, the Ragin' Cajuns fought their way through a nationally ranked Coastal Carolina team to get back to Texas State in the semifinals.

Louisiana won game one 12-6 to force game two, and then won the second game 7-4.

The Cajuns now await a dance partner for the Championship. They will face the winner of the Southern Miss.-Troy game. The Golden Eagles play the Trojans on Sunday, May 24, at 9:00 a.m.

The Sun Belt Championship is scheduled for later that day at 1:00 p.m.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The 2026 LSU softball season came to an end with the No. 16 Tigers losing game two of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional to No. 1 Alabama 4-1. The Crimson Tide swept the series and now advance to the Women's College World Series.

With multiple lightning delays throughout the day, the game took nearly 6.5 hours to complete. Jayden Heavener, despite the delays, was able to pitch a complete game. Aside from a problematic three-run fourth inning, Heavener was solid in her final outing of the season. The sophomore struck out eight batters.

The Alabama pitching staff, in the meantime, continued to give LSU headaches. Vic Moten struck out seven in four innings, and after the second lightning delay, SEC pitcher of the year Jocelyn Briski made her second appearance in the series and picked up right where she left off in game one. Briski struck out five Tigers in three innings, bringing her total strikeouts in the series to 16 in 10 innings.

In total, Alabama struck out 23 LSU batters in games one and two.

The final run of the Tigers' season came off the bat of Tori Edwards, who brought in Alix Franklin on an RBI single in the bottom of the third. The Tigers were unable to bring another run across, but they did out-hit the Tide 7-6.

This loss marks the fifth time the Tigers have been eliminated in Super Regionals since their last trip to Oklahoma City for the Women's College World Series in 2017.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Southern baseball's rematch with Florida A&M at the SWAC tournament started well for the Jags with an early home run from Ryan Hunter, but the Rattlers ended up scoring five unanswered runs and defeated Southern 5-1.

FAMU handed Southern both of their losses in the tournament. The Rattlers had defeated Southern 15-6 in the Jags' second game in Birmingham.

With the two-seeded Jags eliminated, both of the top seeds in the SWAC Tournament, Southern and defending champion Bethune-Cookman, were eliminated on the same day. With the SWAC Tournament title no longer in play, any hope the Jaguars had of making the NCAA Tournament is now effectively gone.

Southern has not won the SWAC Tournament since 2021.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Southern baseball has earned a rematch with Florida A&M. After a lengthy delay, the Jaguars beat Texas Southern 6-4 to advance to the SWAC tournament semi-finals.

The Jags opened the game with a five-run first inning, but struggled offensively after that. Southern loaded the bases in the fourth and fifth innings, and did not bring a runner across to score in either frame. Both innings ended with a Southern strikeout.

The last run the Jaguars scored on the night came in the bottom of the seventh. Xavier Bradley touched home while Jaylon Lucky grounded into a double play. The single run in the seventh, along with the five-run first was enough to push the Jags to the win

The Jags will play FAMU on Saturday, May 23, at noon.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - LSU softball now faces elimination after losing game one of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional 7-0 to No. 1 Alabama. The Tigers just couldn't get much contact off of Alabama starting pitcher Jocelyn Briski, who struck out 11 LSU batters through seven innings of work.

The game started with a Jalia Lassiter leadoff double. After that promising beginning, LSU didn't have another baserunner, let alone another hit, for the remainder of the game. The next 21 Tiger hitters were retired.

While LSU only managed one hit in the game, the top-seeded Tide strung together 10 hits to go along with their seven runs. LSU starting pitcher Paytn Monticelli was charged with six of those runs.

LSU will try to stave off elimination in game two of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 23.

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ST. AMANT, La. - Before LSU softball's Alix Franklin was robbing home runs in the NCAA tournament and making it in the SportsCenter Top Ten, she spent her days at St. Amant High School with the Lady Gators softball team.

"I knew there was something special about this kid," said St. Amant head softball coach Amy Pitre. "The things she just did naturally, you knew there was something special about her."

Even though Franklin has since traded her Gators uniform for the purple and gold of LSU, she's never all that far from her old team, which worked in her favor while she was a freshman with the Tigers last season. A season in which she only played in two games.

"One thing about Alix is that she's a hard worker," said Pitre. "Last season was rough on her. She was used to playing every day here and being the best in high school."

After not seeing the field much in year one of her college career, Franklin got to work to change that for year two.

"She came in the Summer," said Pitre. "And I know she got to work at LSU, but when she wasn't working there, she was out here calling me to toss balls, hit balls, whatever."

Franklin's biggest moment of her Tiger career so far came in the Baton Rouge Regional Final against Virginia Tech, a home run robbing catch at the outfield. The impact of that catch was felt all the way back in St. Amant.

"We have a mini-camp in early June," said Pitre. "As soon as Alix made that catch, I feel like I had 20 kids sign up. Everybody here knows who Alix Franklin is. I would love to have her come back here and coach."

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Hunter McCann has this weekend's best bets for the NBA and NHL playoffs, WNBA, college baseball and the MLB!

Friday

NBA Playoffs:
Thunder @ Spurs: Spurs -1.5

College Baseball:
Pittsburgh @ Florida State: Florida State -1.5
Dallas Baptist @ Missouri State: Dallas Baptist ML
Arkansas @ Texas: o10.5 Total Runs
New Mexico @ San Diego State: San Diego State -1.5
Oklahoma State @ Kansas: Kansas +1.5
Auburn @ Texas A&M: Auburn ML

WNBA:
Valkyries @ Fever: Fever -5.5
Wings @ Dream: Wings +5.5
Sun @ Storm: Storm -1.5

MLB:
Cardinals @ Reds: u9.5 Total Runs (VOID)
Guardians @ Phillies: Phillies ML
Pirates @ Blue Jays: Blue Jays ML
Twins @ Red Sox: Red Sox ML
Nationals @ Braves: o8.5 Total Runs
Rangers @ Angels: Rangers ML

NHL Playoffs:
Golden Knights @ Avalanche: u6.5 Total Goals

Saturday

NBA Playoffs:
Knicks @ Cavaliers: Cavaliers -2.5

College Baseball:
Wichita State @ UAB: UAB ML
Missouri State @ Liberty: Liberty ML
USC @ UCLA: UCLA ML
Pittsburgh @ North Carolina: u14.5 Total Runs
Arkansas @ Auburn: Auburn ML

MLB:

Astros @ Cubs: Cubs ML
Pirates @ Blue Jays: Pirates ML
Guardians @ Phillies: Phillies ML
Mets @ Marlins: Mets ML
Mariners @ Royals: u8.5 Total Runs
Twins @ Red Sox: o7.5 Total Runs

WNBA:
Fire @ Tempo: Tempo -4.5
Sparks @ Aces: Sparks +8.5

NHL Playoffs:
Canadiens @ Hurricanes: o5.5 Total Goals

Sunday

NBA Playoffs:
Thunder @ Spurs: Spurs -2.5

College Baseball:
UNC @ Georgia Tech: UNC ML
Rhode Island @ VCU: Rhode Island ML
Arkansas @ Georgia: Georgia ML
Oregon @ UCLA: UCLA -1.5

WNBA:
Mercury @ Dream: u168.5 Total Points
Wings @ Liberty: Wings +7.5
Mystics @ Storm: Mystics -3.5

MLB:
Pirates @ Blue Jays: Blue Jays ML
Mets @ Marlins: u8.5 Total Runs
Dodgers @ Brewers: Dodgers ML
Athletics @ Padres: Padres ML
Rockies @ Diamondbacks: Diamondbacks ML
National @ Braves: u8.5 Total Runs

NHL Playoffs:
Avalanche @ Golden Knights: Golden Knights ML

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TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA - The LSU Tiger softball team is playing some of it's best ball at the end of the season, and they'll need it as they face one of the best teams in the country in their NCAA Super Regional opener against No. 1 overall seed Alabama.

"The most competitive team wins this weekend," said head coach Beth Torina. "It might not be the most talented, the best, any of those things, it's the team that plays the best. I think we saw that this past weekend from our group."

LSU has history riding on it's side as they've won six of the last ten games against the Tide and the only two meetings against Alabama in the NCAA postseason.

However Alabama will be playing at home and is a complete team that can both swing it and pitch it in the circle.

The best-of-three series starts Friday evening at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa with a berth in the Women’s College World Series on the line. 

The first game of the weekend is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on Friday, May 22, on ESPN2, and the second game will be at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, May 23, on ESPN. Sunday’s game time is to be determined if a game three is necessary. 

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HOOVER, ALABAMA - The LSU baseball team lost 3-1 to Auburn in the SEC Tournament on Tuesday night ending their 2026 season early as the Tigers will not make the NCAA Tournament following 13 straight seasons of playing into June.

The Tigers subpar regular season record made the reality of missing postseason play assured if the LSU did not play into the championship game and win it to earn the NCAA's automatic bid to Regionals.

Casan Evans started for the Tigers on the mound and was impressive throwing 4.2 innings allowing just one earned run while striking out eight.

Auburn would score the go ahead run of the game on a throwing error from freshman Jack Ruckert that would make it 2-1 Auburn in the fifth inning.

The Auburn Tigers would tack on an insurance run from Eric Guevara who launched a monster home run to left to make it a 3-1 lead that the LSU Tigers could not overcome.

LSU ends their season with a 30-28 overall record and fail to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011.

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NEW YORK — The New Orleans Pelicans are heading to Europe for a pair of regular-season games in January 2027 against the San Antonio Spurs. 

The first of the two games will be played at the Accor Arena in Paris, France, on Jan. 14, 2027, and the second will be played at the Co-op Live in Manchester, England, on Jan. 17, 2027.

The games are part of the league's multiyear slate of regular season games in Europe.

The Paris game will mark the 16th time an NBA contest has been held in France since 1991 and the league's sixth regular season game in Paris.

The Pelicans will be playing their third and fourth games in Europe and their first in France and England.

The Paris game holds significance for both teams and their home cities, with the Pels' Paris game coming months after the Saints are set for their own Parisian debut in October, and Spurs star Victor Wembanyama returning to his home country for the matchup.

"These games provide a unique platform to showcase our team, our culture and our community to global audiences while building meaningful relationships with fans, partners and communities abroad," Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars said. "We are grateful to be part of the NBA's continued international growth efforts, and we are excited to help grow the game globally and connect with new generations of basketball fans."

Around the games, the NBA, the Spurs and the Pelicans will run social impact programming focused on health, wellness and sustainability, youth basketball clinics and coach and referee development programming, along with interactive fan activities in both cities.

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HOOVER, ALABAMA - The LSU Tiger baseball team was already facing back-to-the-wall adversity in their SEC Tournament opening game against Oklahoma on Tuesday night in Hoover, Alabama but then they got the news that expected starting pitcher William Schmidt would be a late scratch on the mound.

The Tiger staff rallied and pitched an impressive six hit, one earned run game between three pitchers that kept the teams season alive as LSU pulled out the 6-2 win over the Sooners.

According to head coach Jay Johnson in a SEC Network television broadcast Schmidt was feeling tightness in his back and the coaching staff would not risk any further injury by running him out there against the Sooners.

Grant Fontenot made the start for the Tigers and did a solid job as he threw 2.1 innings allowing just one run. 

Gavin Guidry relieved Fontenot and threw 3.1 innings of three hit, one run baseball and Devin Sheerin shut down the Sooner bats down the stretch throwing 3.1 scoreless innings as both relievers collected six strikeouts each against Oklahoma.

The Tigers showed some continued miscues but overcame them early in the game to take a 4-2 lead over the Sooners in the fifth inning.

LSU must win the entire SEC Tournament to earn an automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA postseason tournament.

The Tigers will now will face sixth-seeded Auburn in the late game on Wednesday night.

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BATON ROUGE - The 2025 Big East Player of the Year, RJ Luis, has committed to LSU men's basketball, but he is currently ineligible to play this season.

According to Pete Nakos of On3, Luis is the latest addition to Will Wade’s 2026 roster. However, he will likely need to file a lawsuit in an effort to gain immediate eligibility.

BREAKING: Former pro guard RJ Luis Jr. has signed with LSU, @PeteNakos reports??

Luis was the 2025 Big East player of the year.https://t.co/mzMe9luCgH pic.twitter.com/ZdUDJKoec3

— On3 (@On3) May 19, 2026

After playing for the St. John's Red Storm in 2024-25, Luis entered both the transfer portal and the 2025 NBA Draft. He remained in the draft past the withdrawal deadline and ultimately went undrafted.

Luis later signed with the Utah Jazz before being traded to the Boston Celtics. He was eventually waived and signed with Boston’s G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics, but was waived again before appearing in a game.

Historically, the NCAA has ruled that players who sign NBA contracts are ineligible to return to college basketball, meaning Luis will likely have to sue the NCAA in order to gain immediate eligibility.

The 6-foot-7 small forward put together a dominant 2024-25 campaign, earning Big East Player of the Year honors and second-team All-American recognition. He averaged 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Red Storm.

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