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Senate’s college sports playbook

By Sohail Khan 29 September 2026, 11:44 am

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Business News›News›International›Global Trends›College sports gets its Congress moment: Inside the Senate-passed Protect College Sports Act

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College sports gets its Congress moment: Inside the Senate-passed Protect College Sports Act
Synopsis

The Protect College Sports Act was passed by the US Senate, setting federal rules for college athletics. This legislation governs how athletes can earn money, transfer schools, and receive revenue. The bill now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration and potential amendments. Supporters argue that federal law is necessary to stabilize college sports and prevent further litigation.

Senate vote on "Protect College Sports Act" on Capitol Hill in Washington — Inside the Senate-passed Protect College Sports Act

The US Senate on Monday, September 28, passed the Protect College Sports Act by 77 votes to 22. It is the first time either chamber of Congress has approved comprehensive federal legislation governing college athletics.

The bill is S.4668, led by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (Republican, Texas) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (Democrat, Washington). It now moves to the House of Representatives.

What is the Protect College Sports Act?

The bill sets national rules for how college athletes earn money, how they move between schools and how much of their institutions' revenue they can be paid. According to the Congressional Research Service summary on Congress.gov, it also gives schools and conferences a limited antitrust exemption to pool and sell certain media rights.

How did college sports get here?

For most of the last century, the NCAA barred athletes from being paid beyond scholarships, on the principle of amateurism. That began to unravel in June 2021, when the US Supreme Court ruled in NCAA v. Alston that the association could not cap education-related benefits for athletes. The ruling weakened the NCAA's long-standing legal position.

Within weeks, the NCAA allowed athletes to earn from their name, image and likeness (NIL), for instance through endorsements. It set no national framework. States passed their own NIL laws, which differed widely, and schools and booster-backed collectives competed for recruits with offers.

The result was a patchwork of state rules, a booming transfer portal and a wave of lawsuits challenging NCAA restrictions. Lawmakers have introduced dozens of college sports bills since 2020, and none reached a full-chamber vote until now.

The House settlement was the biggest legal reset. It settled antitrust claims by former athletes and allowed schools to share revenue directly with current athletes, subject to a cap. It also changed roster limits, and Congress is now being asked to lock its architecture in place. Its supporters say only federal law can stop fresh litigation from unpicking it.

What does the bill change for athletes?

According to the Congressional summary, the main provisions are:

NIL rights: Institutions, conferences and bodies such as the NCAA cannot bar athletes from signing NIL agreements, subject to specified limits. Athletes must report NIL compensation above $600 to their institution.
Agents: Agents must register with a state, and fees on endorsement contracts are capped at 5%.
Transfers: Athletes get one transfer without losing athletic eligibility.
Coaches: Football personnel are restricted from becoming head coach at a different institution during the same season.

What does it do about revenue sharing?

The bill bars institutions, conferences or entities acting for a school's benefit from paying athletes in ways that get around the revenue-sharing limit set by the House settlement. It also makes that limit permanent and adds an annual inflation adjustment.

Also read: Donald Trump signs executive order aimed at regulating college sports

Critics argue this is the bill's sharpest edge. Athlete groups say that writing the cap into law means athletes could not bargain over these terms collectively unless Congress first repealed the statute.

What happens to non-revenue sports?

Large institutions, defined as those with $80 million or more in annual athletics revenue, must keep at least as many grant-in-aid opportunities and roster spots for sports that do not generate positive net revenue as they offered in academic year 2024-25. Division I conferences are also generally barred from cutting the number of varsity or Olympic sports a member must sponsor.

A school can seek a waiver in cases of financial hardship. The requirements lapse nine years after enactment.

This addresses a concern that shrinking rosters under the House settlement would hit Olympic-sport programmes such as swimming, gymnastics and athletics, which feed US Olympic teams.

What is the antitrust exemption?

The bill lets institutions or conferences form joint agreements to transfer their sports telecasting rights to a third party without facing antitrust liability, subject to conditions. Such an agreement needs participation from at least 75% of institutions in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

This is a long-sought goal of college sports leaders, who have lobbied Congress for years for protection from lawsuits. Opponents, including Democratic Senator Cory Booker, a former Stanford football player, argue the exemption would hand too much power to schools and the NCAA. "What this bill does, at its core, is protect a system of exploitation," Booker said.

Who supports it and who opposes it?

The bill has bipartisan backing in the Senate. Cruz called Monday's vote a "monumental day" for college sports. President Donald Trump has urged Congress to send the bill to his desk and has said he would sign it.

Opposition comes from several directions. The NAACP, the AFL-CIO and the Congressional Black Caucus oppose the bill, as do athlete groups including Athletes.org and the College Football Players Association. They argue it shuts athletes out and stalls moves toward collective bargaining.

The bill also does not settle whether athletes are employees of their schools, a question that has hovered over college sports for years.

A separate dispute was over transgender athletes. Republican Senators Jim Banks and Tommy Tuberville filed an amendment in August seeking to ensure the bill did not override state laws restricting participation in women's sports. In an official memo, the White House Counsel's office stated the bill "would not preempt state laws prohibiting men from participating in women's sports," according to the Senate Commerce Committee.

What happens next?

The House must now take up the bill. Any changes it makes would have to be reconciled with the Senate version before it can reach the President. The real deadline is January 3, when a new Congress is sworn in and any bill not yet law lapses. The House has only a handful of legislative weeks left. Its sponsor in the chamber, Representative Baumgartner, has said the bill has a better than even chance there.

Earlier House proposals, including the College SPORTS Act introduced by Representatives Janelle Bynum and Lisa McClain, took different approaches, so reconciling the two chambers could be difficult.

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