I played in the NFL. We don’t want Washington trying to fix college sports

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I’ve spent years helping hundreds of high school and college athletes secure NIL and professional contracts that create life-changing opportunities and lay the foundation for careers like mine. As a former NFL and Arena Football player, it has been one of my great privileges to watch these young men and women flourish both on and off the field.

That’s why I oppose the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA). Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz usually gets it right, which is why he’s a great senator. But instead of bringing order to the Wild West of college sports, the PCSA creates a federal system that could jeopardize the opportunities today’s athletes finally have to create wealth, gain valuable experience and shape their own futures.

There’s no doubt that college sports need reform. I’ve seen it up close, first as a player, then as someone who has represented athletes, and most recently when I helped operate a name, image and likeness (NIL) collective. I’ve sat in living rooms with families to help them navigate cumbersome NIL rules that seem to change by the month. The transfer portal doesn’t serve athletes or fans, and litigation has created uncertainty for schools and players alike.

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Athletes, schools and fans deserve better, because those living rooms aren’t numbers to me. They have real people sitting in them, seeing real opportunity in front of them.

I’ll never forget one mother’s relief and excitement when I told her that her son had signed his first meaningful NIL agreement. I’ve watched players use NIL income to help take pressure off their families back home. I’ve seen young men who once thought football might end with graduation begin to think differently about their futures because they were learning how to build a brand, manage money and create opportunities beyond the game.

Supporters of the PCSA argue that Washington must centralize oversight to bring order and stability to college athletics. But college sports didn’t become one of America’s great institutions because of federal planning. Their growth came from schools, conferences, businesses and communities adapting to change and creating value.

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The people closest to athletes are also the people best positioned to understand what those athletes need. The offensive tackle my agency represents at Kentucky faces different opportunities and challenges from the receiver we represent at Texas Tech or the high school prospect we’re helping navigate the recruiting process. Those decisions shouldn’t be made by bureaucrats in Washington, who are far removed from the realities facing athletes and the communities that support them.

And as a former player, I know something else: when decisions move farther from the locker room, the people who pay the price are usually the athletes themselves.

College sports need change. The rules should be clearer. The system should be more stable. But reform should strengthen the people and institutions that built this game, not hand more authority to Washington.

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The game I fell in love with gave me opportunities I never could have imagined. But one of the greatest privileges of my life has been helping the next generation find opportunities I never had.

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Because when I think about the future of college sports, I don’t think about bureaucracies or legislation. I think about that mother’s voice on the other end of the phone and the young men whose lives are being changed by opportunities that finally exist for them.

And as a former player, I know something else: when decisions move farther from the locker room, the people who pay the price are usually the athletes themselves.

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They deserve reform that opens more doors, not fewer. And the future of college athletics should continue to be built under Friday night lights and on Saturday afternoons, by the players, coaches, schools, and communities that made these sports great in the first place.

Don Malloy is a Texas entrepreneur and investor, former professional football player, and longtime representative of elite athletes. He played for the Detroit Lions and in the Arena Football League before building a career as a successful sports agent.

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