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On Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee voted 19-9 to send an amended version of the Protect College Sports Act—a sweeping bipartisan college sports bill—to the Senate floor for a full vote. 

It’s the first time that a college sports bill has passed a committee vote in the Senate in the six years that college sports stakeholders have been lobbying in Congress.

“No one got everything they wanted,” Cruz said at the outset of the hearing. “But we did create a framework that stabilizes college athletics.”

The bill, introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D., Wash) and co-sponsored by Sens. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.) and Chris Coons (D., Del.) would codify academic and health and safety standards, athlete revenue-sharing and NIL rights, and implement minimum requirements for Olympic sports participation. It would also establish limits on player compensation, transfers, and eligibility, give the NCAA and conferences antitrust protections to enforce these rules, and prevent state legislatures from passing laws to conflict with these rules. Additionally, it would prevent a power conference super league and allow for FBS conferences to pool media rights. 

Dozens of conferences, including the Big 12 and ACC, have come out in favor of the bill, as  has the NCAA. 

But it continues to have opposition from the Big Ten and SEC, the conferences said in a joint statement on Thursday morning. The opposition comes even though the newest version of the bill ameliorates their concern about the super league provision. The original version effectively prevented a Big Ten-SEC merger only, while the new version sent to the Senate floor prevents this for all four power conferences. 

An amended version of the bill also strengthens protections for Olympic and women’s sports by setting minimum roster and scholarships numbers regardless of whether schools decide to share media rights revenue in the future. A previous version of the bill only implemented these protections if media rights were pooled.

A vote on the Senate floor has not yet been scheduled, and the bill is expected to face headwinds in the House of Representatives, as Republican leadership has critiqued the bill. President Donald Trump, however, has publicly endorsed it. 

The post Landmark College Sports Bill Advances Toward Senate Vote appeared first on Front Office Sports.

Did the NBA champion New York Knicks decline an invitation to the White House? No, that's not true: The team's owner, James Dolan, said on radio station WFAN that the team had received an invitation and accepted it. Dolan said the date of the visit had not yet been finalized, adding, "We still have to figure out the details, etc."

The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by the @allenanalysis account on X on June 17, 2026. It read:

The Knicks declined the White House invitation.

New York being New York. 🧡💙

This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:

Dolan announced the future visit to Washington, D.C., during an appearance on "The Carton Show" on WFAN on June 17, 2026, and the station later shared a post and video (archived here) by SportsNet New York (@sny_knicks) on X. He said:

We just did receive an invitation from the White House, which we accepted. We still have to figure out the details, etc., but, yes, of course... and I'm very proud to bring the team to the White House.

The video of the announcement is embedded below:

James Dolan says on @CartonShowWFAN that the Knicks have accepted an invitation to the White House pic.twitter.com/Evb7TjUIv4

-- SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) June 17, 2026

Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) and did not find any matching reports from credible news outlets containing the words "New York Knicks decline White House invitation." Instead, there were multiple reports of the NBA champions accepting the invite.

NEED TO KNOW

• James Dolan said the New York Knicks have accepted an invitation to the White House after winning their first NBA championship in 53 years
• The Knicks owner called Donald Trump a friend and said he is “very proud” to bring the team to the White House
• Dolan also reflected on Trump's attendance at the NBA Finals, which he said marked the first time a sitting president attended a Finals game

The New York Knicks are headed to the White House.

James Dolan, the executive chairman and CEO of Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., which owns the Knicks, revealed during an appearance on WFAN New York on Wednesday, June 17, that the team has accepted an invitation from the White House following its championship victory.

"Thank you for asking me that. We just did receive an invitation from [the] White House, which we accepted," Dolan said. Asked if he was looking forward to the White House celebration, he added, "We still have to figure out the details."

The invitation comes days after the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals on June 13, earning the team's first championship in 53 years.

The Knicks owner, 71, also spoke about his relationship with President Donald Trump, who attended the Knicks' NBA Finals game against the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden on June 8.

"I invited the President to come down for the game," Dolan said on Wednesday. "He is a friend. I've known him for 30 years, and I'm very proud to bring the team to the White House."

Trump watched the game from a private box alongside his granddaughter, Kai Trump. Dolan noted that the appearance marked the "first time ever for any NBA finals" that a sitting president attended a game.

Trump's presence generated headlines throughout the night. The president was booed by some fans inside Madison Square Garden during the pregame festivities, and he faced criticism from some lawmakers and basketball fans after appearing to fall asleep during portions of the game.

Ahead of the matchup, players from both teams were asked about Trump's attendance.

Spurs star De'Aaron Fox acknowledged the increased security surrounding the game.

"I think the president being here just makes it inconvenient for everybody else," Fox said. "We’re getting screened like it’s TSA. It’s a little inconvenient for the people that’s got to play, but it is what it is.”

Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns declined to comment directly on Trump's appearance, instead focusing on the significance of bringing Finals basketball back to Madison Square Garden.

"Fans have earned the right and deserve the right to see Finals basketball played here, at Madison Square Garden," Towns said. "For it to be a long time to see Finals basketball, it's up to us to bring it, give 'em something to get loud about, give them something to cheer for, and also give them something to believe in."

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Teammate OG Anunoby similarly downplayed the visit.

"I think he’ll just be there watching the game," Anunoby said. "We’re going to go as usual, just play our game, try to win the game.”

Trump later praised the Knicks' championship run.

"I think the Knicks have an amazing team, the way they played," Trump, 80, told reporters aboard Air Force One following the series' second game. "It started off slow and it just got stronger and stronger."

Read the original article on People