Last Saturday, President Donald Trump joined more than 100,000 fans to watch the No. 1 ranked University of Texas football team play the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. That same day, millions more Americans from Athens to Oxford to Lubbock to Corvallis tailgated and jammed into stadiums or crowded around TV sets to watch their big Saturday game.
Trump was in Knoxville not just because he loves college football, but also to signal his strong support for the Protect College Sports Act, which overwhelmingly passed the U.S. Senate on Monday with a 77 to 22 vote. Most of the debate over the bill was about NIL payments, transfer rules and television contracts, but another critically important aspect of this legislation is its aim to restore and protect a uniquely American institution—one of the few institutions that actually brings us together in these polarized times. Cody Campbell, Texas Tech Regent, is a hero for his leadership on this issue.
Nearly 40 million people attend college football games each week and the television audience for college football is larger than the NBA. Those stats are especially remarkable when you compare the markets of college football to professional sports, which are anchored in metropolitan areas. The fan base of college football is built almost exclusively around small university towns, many in backwater locations, all over the country.
Still, college football fans generate an economic impact that keeps those communities flourishing. Oxford, Mississippi, home of the University of Mississippi, has a population of 27,000 but seven Ole Miss home games in 2025 generated an estimated $325 million in visitor spending. The overall economic impact for the University of Oregon in Eugene is similar, creating 1,800 jobs. The Ducks estimate that the more than 50,000 fans who show up on game day spend over $302 each.
The University of Texas is a legendary financial powerhouse and its numbers dwarf every other team, with some estimates of regional economic impact reaching as high as $467 million —about $63 million for every home game. But even at a relatively smaller program like Texas Tech in Lubbock, estimates indicate that a single Texas Tech home game adds $5 million to $7 million to the local economy, reflected in restaurants and hotel receipts, bars, local shops and hundreds of jobs.
The driving mission of the Protect College Sports Act is to end the threat of the chaotic system of NIL payments, unlimited transfers, crazy conference realignment and an escalating financial arms race that is crowding out and destroying the women’s and Olympic sports programs that are essential for student athletes and the strength of our universities.
But the legislation is also important because college football connects communities — neighbors and families — across generations in a way that almost nothing else in America does anymore. Parents and grandparents share all the traditions and rituals with their kids. There’s nothing like the thrill of the marching band taking the field and the players bursting out of the tunnel. Cannons fire, fireworks explode. Bevo, or The Masked Rider or the Oregon Duck on a motorcycle appear out of nowhere and thousands of people sing the same songs at the same time. That simply doesn’t happen anywhere else in America.
We live in shaky times. Faith is declining. Trust in almost everything is weak. Society is reforming in all kinds of ways in response to AI and other forces. College football is one thing that holds our culture together in a time when we are increasingly divided by race, class, ideology, geography and politics. The tradition of college football, born on that field in New Jersey over 150 years ago (when Rutgers beat Princeton), is too important to who we are as Americans to let it somehow be turned into the NFL with younger players.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose primary mission is to bring world peace, said recently that “the greatest show on television today in America is College GameDay,” ESPN’s legendary pre-game review on Saturday morning. Rubio reported that his perfect day would be watching college football from Saturday morning to the last game at night.
It is worth noting that nobody has a better understanding of American culture and what makes it strong than Rubio.
The debate on the Protect College Sports Bill now goes to the U.S. House, where the initial prognosis isn’t good. Agents and rich football programs oppose the bill and they are a powerful force. They will bring everything they have to the fight. But, in the beginning, few people expected the bill to pass the U.S. Senate and virtually no one believed it would get 77 votes. The House should absolutely debate the details — and if they can improve the legislation, they should. But they shouldn’t let the forces of greed kill it.
So much that is good about America is riding on college football. Guns Up! Gig ‘em! Hook ‘em!