Discussion · Senate
Ted Cruz Republican
“Vote no on this amendment. It limits how much colleges can charge for sports tickets. Putting a cap on ticket prices treats all schools the same, hurts their ability to make money when teams do well, and lowers the amount of money schools can share with student athletes.”
“Mr. President, I understand the sentiment behind my friend Senator Kennedy’s amendment. I, nonetheless, oppose the amendment and urge a ``no’’ vote. This amendment would set a price control on college sports tickets. The amendment does not distinguish between large institutions and small institutions, applies the same mandate to every university and every single sport from the small local community college to the HBCU to a large Power Four school. This will harm schools from being able to respond when market factors change. For example, let’s say a small school has an unbelievable football season and is considered college football playoff material. The next season, that same team has a schedule that is playing well-known teams like Notre Dame or Alabama that are drawing a significant crowd and increased fan interest and demand. This amendment would prevent that small school whose fans believe they are playoff material from being able to respond to that fan interest and build revenues that could be put back in the university and back into the student-athletes. And, critically, the revenue that is shared with student-athletes comes from ticket sales. So capping the prices on ticket sales would reduce the revenue that is available to student-athletes. I encourage Members to vote no.”
Mr. President, I understand the sentiment behind my friend Senator Kennedy’s amendment. I, nonetheless, oppose the amendment and urge a ``no’’ vote. This amendment would set a price control on college sports tickets. The amendment does not distinguish between large institutions and small institutions, applies the same mandate to every university and every single sport from the small local community college to the HBCU to a large Power Four school. This will harm schools from being able to respond when market factors change. For example, let’s say a small school has an unbelievable football season and is considered college football playoff material. The next season, that same team has a schedule that is playing well-known teams like Notre Dame or Alabama that are drawing a significant crowd and increased fan interest and demand. This amendment would prevent that small school whose fans believe they are playoff material from being able to respond to that fan interest and build revenues that could be put back in the university and back into the student-athletes. And, critically, the revenue that is shared with student-athletes comes from ticket sales. So capping the prices on ticket sales would reduce the revenue that is available to student-athletes. I encourage Members to vote no.