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Just how much money has Cody Campbell donated to Ted Cruz?
Today, the U.S. Senate held a hearing on the Protect College Sports Act, a new bipartisan bill that aims to, well, protect college sports.
The legislation, introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell, is being fast-tracked through Congress. The bill was released just seven days ago, and those invited to speak weren’t brought to Capitol Hill to debate its flaws.
Is it a good bill? A lot of people already hate it. Student-athlete advocacy groups fear it will damage their NIL earnings. The Big Ten and SEC put out a joint statement saying they can’t support it.
One person certainly likes it: Oil billionaire and Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell.
This week, his organization, Saving College Sports, published a letter littered with marquee names calling on Congress to pass the legislation. Did all those people agree to sign it? Not important.
He also published an op-ed in USA Today and fired off a lengthy tweet, calling the PCSA “the most comprehensive, well-constructed, and well-written piece of legislation” that has been unveiled since the NIL era began.
That might be because the bill includes the potential for an antitrust exemption that would allow college football to bundle its media rights, something Campbell is a huge advocate of.
Which led to a fun exchange last week, when Cruz joined the Andy & Ari On3 podcast to promote the bill.
While discussing provisions to prevent the Big Ten and SEC from forming a super league, host Andy Staples said that someone asked him, “Did Sen. Cruz let Cody Campbell write this bill?”
“This has been what he's been pushing,” Staples added. Cruz chuckled, but denied it.
“Cody didn’t write this bill.”
Which Cruz is free to say. And which we are free to say, in response, “lol, come on.”
Campbell may not have been sitting at a computer in a Senate office, but in Congress, money talks. And Campbell is a huge fiscal backer of Cruz. More than you might realize.
Campbell has donated numerous times to the Texas senator, but that’s only part of it.
Campbell has also given to various Republican committees, earmarking the donations for Cruz. He’s put money into multiple super PACs, ones backing Cruz’s campaign and others trashing his opponents. He’s given to Cruz’s leadership PAC.
And his wife, Tara, has just so happened to have done the exact same thing. On all the same dates.
Which adds up to a lot of money and influence.
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(Dang it. I forgot to insert the paywall before hitting send. Oh well, I guess this one’s on the house.)
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The Protect College Sports Act is the latest in a long line of bills designed to fix college sports.
While others have floundered, this new effort has momentum. Given it already has two Republicans and two Democrats on board, its passage in the Senate is a real possibility.
That’s partially because the bill punts on one of the thorniest issues in college sports: the right of students to organize. But, ya know, whatever.
Should it also clear the House, President Donald Trump would… probably sign it (idk tho!) given the bill and the college sports panel he commissioned are smartly lashing themselves together.
A few weeks earlier, members of the commission put out a statement backing the legislation. Today’s keynote witness, Nick Saban, who also spoke at Trump’s event, endorsed it as well.
Then there’s Campbell. He is on the commission, has dumped tons of money into television ads for his Saving College Sports movement, and has paid hundreds of thousands to lobbyists.
He’s a huge donor to the Republican Party. More specifically, he’s a big Cruz backer.
Over the past decade, Campbell has made 26 donations to the senator. In 2016, when Cruz ran for president, Campbell gave $10,800 directly to the campaign, plus another $100,000 to his PAC, Stand for Truth. After Cruz dropped out, Campbell kicked in $2,700 to his Senate coffers.
In 2018, Cruz was locked in a feisty re-election bid, the first midterm of the Trump era. Concerned Texans stepped up, starting a PAC to attack his Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke.
The PAC, Texans Are, was funded by the one thing almost all Texans are not. Billionaires. It got donations from Robert Rowling, Harlan Crow, Tim Dunn, Farris Wilks, plus Longhorns football boosters Jeff Hildebrand and Bryan Sheffield.
Campbell chipped in $50,000, money that went to ads about migrant caravans destroying the Lone Star State.
Over the next six years, Campbell continued to give to Cruz and associated entities. He made several donations to the National Republican Senatorial Committee that were flagged for Cruz. Campbell also gave to two different PACs: Cruz’s Jobs, Freedom, and Security Leadership PAC and his Truth and Courage PAC.
All told, over ten years, Campbell has given $373,100 to Cruz.
But that’s not all.
In the same time frame, Campbell’s wife has also donated ten times to Cruz. And while we don’t want to accuse her of merely doing her husband’s bidding, donors can use their spouses to double up on their giving. We aren’t saying that happened here. We’re just noting that all of her $135,400 in donations to Cruz happened to come on the same exact days as Cody’s.
Together, the Campbells have given over $500,000 to Cruz, part of more than $7 million they’ve pumped into Republican politics.
And the FEC’s records only go up to March 2026. Who knows what the Campbells might have given since Cody attended Trump’s White House summit and this bill got written.
Maybe nothing. Maybe a lot. We’ll find out soon. But either way, we feel entirely justified in reiterating our earlier response to Cruz’s denial about Campbell’s influence: because like, lol. Come on, dude.
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