What the Protect College Sports Act could mean for Gonzaga and conference realignment

Amidst the complete and utter chaos that college basketball has become, thanks to the NCAA's inconsistent rollout of the new 5-in-5 rules, a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is becoming clearer.

The Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan 116-page legislation written by Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash), is currently "on the doorstep" of a vote in the U.S. Senate, which could dramatically change how college athletics operates after a half-decade of messiness following the implementation of NIL and the transfer portal.

The bill, which recently received support from the SEC and Big Ten, seeks to provide safeguards to prevent schools from circumventing the salary system, and sets out to eliminate tampering - ambitious goals that will be difficult to eradicate entirely from college athletics.

Conference realignment is also a huge part of the PCSA, with language in the updated document that seeks to prevent conferences that earn at least $700 million in annual revenue from merging with one another or acquiring new members.

This means the power four conferences - SEC, Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12 - would no longer be able to add members at all, not just from each other, which essentially locks everyone in place for the foreseeable future.

Additionally, any movement in the future between power conference programs would require the moving team to operate as an independent for five years - a tradeoff that virtually no school would be willing to make.

The expansion provision remains unchanged: Power leagues are capped at 19 schools and those power conference programs moving to another power conference must operate as an independent for five years. pic.twitter.com/z9dEeieDUl
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) August 4, 2026

What this means for Gonzaga

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few and guard Davis Fogle. | Photo by Erik Smith

If the Protect College Sports Act passes, the rules will go into effect immediately. That means right now the clock is ticking for any last-minute conference realignment moves before the effective shutdown takes place.

The PCSA also caps power conference membership at 19, which limits the Big Ten to just one addition, but leaves room for the SEC, Big 12, and ACC to make multiple additions before it all comes to a standstill.

Gonzaga is freshly part of the new-look Pac-12, joining officially on July 1, but should the Big 12 come calling, it would be a conversation Zag leadership is forced to have. While a full share of the Big 12's media rights deal is extremely unlikely for a non-football school, even a partial share likely eclipses what Gonzaga will end up making annually from the Pac-12.

There is no guarantee that Gonzaga gets targeted for realignment with the Protect College Sports Act seemingly on the verge of going into law, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see a rash of moves in the near future.

Whether that results in the ACC getting desperate and looking to build out their west coast brands, or the Big 12 looking at Gonzaga, or even the Big East calling if they lose UConn to the ACC, the realignment carousel could start spinning out of control very soon - and Gonzaga might end up hopping back on.

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