Florida State’s leadership is in alignment on the Protect College Sports Act: The majority of the legislation in Washington will resolve a multitude of issues.

But a provision that caps college conferences at 19 teams and forces any school that wants to leave a power conference to sit out five years has FSU president Dr. Richard McCullough, Board of Trustees chairman Peter Collins and athletics director Michael Alford in agreement that it’s bad for not just FSU but a large number of schools across the country, too.

“There's a lot of really good things in this bill, but there's some head scratchers for sure,” Collins said on Friday as the BOT wrapped up a two-day meeting.

The PCSA aims to create an anti-trust exemption for college athletics, which should minimize the race-to-the-courtroom mindset that’s taken place the last few years. Legislation would also allow for just one transfer per athlete and cap agent fees at 5 percent.

“There's a lot of great things in this bill, and it could really rein in the chaotic everything goes in college sports,” McCullough said. “And so, in general, we support very strongly.”

The big sticking point is what was a later addition to the PCSA, a measure that would stifle widespread conference realignment by capping the power conferences at 19 teams and forcing five years of independence for any school that wants to depart a power league for another power conference.

Legislation will be taken up again after the U.S. Senate’s recess in mid-to-late September. Collins and another FSU BOT member, Justin Roth, is a partner at LINK Public Affairs and leads up the group’s Washington office. Along with McCullough and Alford, they have lobbied for FSU’s best interests and on Friday also praised Senator Rick Scott and Senator Ashley Moody.

As the PCSA was pushing toward a vote, Moody introduced an amendment challenging the 19/5 rule to help future decisions by FSU and Miami.

“We've been pretty vocal on the 19 and five year,” Collins said. “I really don't understand the federal government's desire to cap conference sizes. I'm for it, but first of all, it's an odd number. If you do an odd number, it makes it very hard to schedule teams.

“You may not play somebody in your conference except every four years. And then idea that if you do want to change conferences, that the federal government says, ‘Well, you got to sit out, you got to go independent for five years, which is effectively saying, ‘Hey, you can't do that.’ “

The SEC and Big 12 sit at 16 schools, the Big Ten at 18 and the ACC at 17 (but 18 if counting Notre Dame, a full member in all sports but football and hockey).

“If you cap conference sizes at 19, there's really only about six spots left between the four conferences because of their current numbers,” Collins said. “And if you do have three spots, you're effectively telling that conference that, ‘Hey, you can't add a team without that team going independent for five years.’ Which is again impossible from a scheduling standpoint.

“Nobody's going to schedule Florida State in their non-conference. Most of the conferences are going to nine conference games, so that gives them three non-conference games. Not a lot of people are going to want to sign up to come to Tallahassee to play a non-conference game against Florida State.”

The concern is not just FSU’s as schools like North Carolina, Clemson, Virginia, Georgia Tech and Miami hold appeal for either the Big Ten to expand south or the SEC to cast a wider net. It’s also not clear what ESPN or FOX want or how much money expansion could bring a league like the Big Ten or SEC.

“We can look at it from Florida State, but I think the five-year issue just is larger than Florida State,” BOT vice chair Vivian de las Cuevas-Diaz said. “And it truly is financially impossible. That's the bottom line.”

What do other schools think of the PCSA? One BOT member asked Alford, who said he thinks most athletics directors he’s talked to are broadly in favor of the legislation but that there is a split in opinions on the 19/5 measure.

Among the presidents and chancellors, McCullough said he feels there is significant opposition.

“There are a lot of schools, including ours, that do not like this idea of having set up for five years and the cap of conferences,” McCullough said. “I don't really understand it. You can look at the history of college sports and conferences change all the time. People move around. It's been going on for decades, and I think it's healthy. It's healthy for the marketplace.”

Other key aspects of the PCSA are valued. Alford said he’s happy to see agents’ fees capped at 5 percent. Allowing just one transfer is another key provision and would force an athlete to sit out a year if he or she wanted to transfer a second time.

The current environment of roster instability has frustrated everyone from fans to coaches. Count FSU’s administrators among them, too.

“One of the things I think we're all in agreement that is hurting college sports today is everybody's a free agent every year,” Collins said. “Transferring every year, it's sort of an anathema to a college athlete, and I think that's an important part.”

Collins also pushed back on the revenue sharing cap, saying it’s not a “hard cap.” Alford added that what he wants is a “hard cap and rules and enforcement.”

That’s been the constant challenge with the NCAA, which can investigate and has subpoena power. And now there’s a College Sports Commission that operates a national clearinghouse, NIL Go, that evaluates an athlete’s compensation and determines if the deals are appropriate or not.

Ultimately, the PCSA could have some teeth in enforcement.

“Not just a police station with no police in it,” Collins said.

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