Former University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban testifies before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation during a hearing to examine college sports, supporting student athletes and fair competition, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday in Washington. (AP photo)

WASHINGTON — Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban and others testified Wednesday in front of Congress in support of a bipartisan bill aimed at overhauling a college sports system where players can increasingly earn millions of dollars while moving freely between schools.

The leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee held the hearing as they push legislation unveiled last week that supporters hope can break the congressional gridlock over how to regulate college athletics. But it’s already facing criticism from some senators and the two most influential conferences in college sports.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would regulate payments to athletes, limit them to one “free” transfer during their careers and create a “Lane Kiffin Rule” restricting coaches from leaving programs during the season. Cruz touted the proposal as “the last, best hope we have to save college sports.”

“If you had the biggest, baddest Ferrari that you could ever have and it was going 150 miles an hour toward the Grand Canyon, somebody needs to tap the brakes. And I think that’s what we all need to do here,” Saban said in his opening remarks.

Notably absent from the the witness list, which included Notre Dame’s athletic director and the commissioner of the newly reconstructed Pac-12 conference, were any representatives from either the Big Ten or Southeastern Conferences. Saban won seven national championships at SEC schools Alabama and LSU but said he was not in Washington to represent any conference or team.

The SEC and the Big Ten, the two most powerful conferences in college sports, oppose the bill, arguing it “leaves critical issues unresolved.”

Asked after the hearing about opposition from the SEC and Big Ten, Cruz told the Associated Press he remains confident the bill can pass Congress.

“We’re going to get the votes,” Cruz said. “If we do nothing, there is no alternative. As every witness testified, college sports is facing a crisis.”

Cantwell said at Wednesday’s hearing that the legislation is intended to restore competition to college athletics by ensuring success is determined by how universities “build a team, and not because they have a billionaire in their back pocket.”