Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is facing intense criticism for commenting that the state of college sports is “an absolute crisis.” “An absolute crisis. Congress NEEDS to act. For months, I’ve been working night & day to try to bring Republicans and Democrats together to save college sports. If we fail to do so, it will be an utter tragedy. And it’s happening right before our eyes,” Cruz said. The Texas Republican’s remarks were in response to a post highlighting the difficult predicament for the Iowa State Cyclones football program, with the team returning only 17 players on its roster. The Cyclones lost head coach Matt Campbell, who departed the program to take the vacant job at Penn State. An absolute crisis. Congress NEEDS to act. For months, I’ve been working night & day to try to bring Republicans and Democrats together to save college sports. If we fail to do so, it will be an utter tragedy. And it’s happening right before our eyes. https://t.co/XOekKlF3Th — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 29, 2025 Fox News explained further: Cruz introduced a bill in 2023, two years after NIL was born, in hopes that tighter regulations would help college sports nationwide. Instead, we’ve seen programs paying for top players through NIL deals, while the transfer portal has allowed players to move from school to school each year. Cruz is one of the top lawmakers in support of the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act, which would give the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption in hopes of protecting the organization from potential lawsuits over eligibility rules and would prohibit athletes from becoming employees of their schools.” “The SCORE Act is the free market, individual liberty, limited government fix to the ‘name, image, and likeness (NIL)’ issue in college athletics,’” a letter addressed to House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., read earlier this month. The groups in favor of the SCORE Act said the bill is the “common-sense way” to establish rules and preempt confusing state laws in the NIL era. “H.R. 4312 prohibits trial lawyers from suing under federal or state antitrust law. It also provides that athletes receiving NIL compensation need not be employees of these universities, protecting them from compulsory unionization. This means student-athletes can be treated as small business owners, not unionized workers,” the letter added. The conservative groups framed the SCORE Act as being a better plan than the “Student Athlete Fairness and Enforcement (SAFE) Act,” which has mostly been backed by Democrats. The SCORE Act has at least scored some bipartisanship support in the House. Critics blasted Cruz for his post, saying college sports should not be among his priorities as a member of Congress. C’mon Ted. Priorities. — ClownBasket (@ClownBasket) December 30, 2025 That isn’t an enumerated authority under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Ted. — Doni (@DoniTheMisfit) December 31, 2025 Oh LORD are you people out of touch. — Tracy Beanz (@tracybeanz) December 30, 2025 I'm starting to think you guys WANT a revolt w BS like this pic.twitter.com/sbmdSEuyN7 — Murray (@AnarchoNexus) December 31, 2025 Jesus Christ dude, with everything that's going on in this country right now and you're "working night and day" to save the Iowa State University football team? — Joel Grus (@joelgrus) December 30, 2025 What does the government have to do with college football? It’s not your job to fix it, work day and night doing your job. Like cutting spending and reducing the cost of living… — Sara Higdon (@SaraHigdon) December 31, 2025 We’re being ripped off by Somali pirates for billions and this is your crisis? — Dale Stark (@DaleStarkA10) December 30, 2025 So you’re saying you’ve been working night and day on something to do with College sports… is that what you are saying? — SETH WEATHERS (@sethweathers) December 30, 2025 I'm sorry I'm not aware of Congress' authority over college sports — Tactical Wisdom (@DolioJ) December 30, 2025 I don't remember voting for this. — The Lectern Guy (@lecternleader) December 30, 2025 Nobody cares about sportsball anymore Ted. We care about real issues. — Joshua Done (@JoshuaDone) December 29, 2025 Rome is burning and @tedcruz is worried the gladiators won’t keep us distracted much longer. — Political Blasphememes (@PBlasphememes) December 30, 2025 NJ.com noted: Campbell’s departure has resulted in at least 36 players leaving, according to College Sports Network, including quarterback Rocco Becht and leading tackler Marcus Neal. The losses have left Iowa State focused less on postseason ambitions and more on simply staying afloat. Now the job of rebuilding falls to Jimmy Rogers, hired away from Washington State on Dec. 5. Rogers is in the process of re-recruiting players and assembling a new staff. Iowa State’s situation is becoming more common in today’s college football. The rise of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) and constant coaching changes have made the sport unstable, with rosters changing almost overnight. NIL refers to the ability of college athletes to earn money from endorsements, sponsorships, appearances, and other commercial uses of their personal brand.