Texas Scorecard By Sydnie Henry November 26, 2025
Texas Tech University had previously expressed concerns that the agreement violated state law.Attorney General Ken Paxton is urging Texas universities and other states’ top law officers to reject a proposed College Sports Commission agreement that he says is unlawful, overreaching, and a direct threat to schools’ finances and autonomy.
In letters sent to Texas schools in the ACC, Big 12, and SEC, as well as to attorneys general in states with Power Four and Big Ten members, Paxton warns that the University Participation Agreement would strip universities of key legal protections and punish them if their own state AGs challenge the College Sports Commission in court.
Paxton’s office says the participation agreement would give the CSC “practically limitless power” over member schools, going far beyond the enforcement role envisioned under the House v. NCAA settlement that created the commission.
The agreement would require universities to:
• Accept CSC’s authority to impose fines, penalties, and other sanctions with almost no meaningful right to appeal.
• Waive their right to challenge CSC enforcement decisions in court and instead submit disputes to an arbitration system built around the House settlement.
• Automatically comply with any additional policies the CSC adopts in the future, even if those rules are issued without prior notice.
Paxton calls the arrangement a “power grab” that undermines the integrity of college sports by centralizing enforcement authority in an unaccountable body while pushing legal and financial risk onto public universities.
One of Paxton’s central objections mirrors concerns raised by Texas Tech University’s general counsel in an internal memo.
The CSC agreement includes a “nonassistance” provision that would:
• Bar schools from cooperating with any lawsuit or legal action brought by their home state’s attorney general against the CSC.
• Trigger major penalties—such as loss of conference revenue and postseason eligibility—if a school “assists” its state AG in such litigation.
Texas Tech Vice Chancellor and General Counsel Eric Bentley previously warned that this effectively “penalizes the university” for lawful actions taken by the attorney general to protect citizens and state agencies, calling the clause “unacceptable” and likely in violation of Texas law.
Paxton’s new letter adopts the same theme, arguing that no private enforcement body should be able to punish a public university for complying with or supporting its own state’s legal decisions.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/attorney-general-paxton-calls-for-opposition-to-college-sports-commission-agreement/
