Senate passes Protect College Sports Act, setting national NIL rules and NCAA antitrust shield, 77-22

The Senate on September 28, 2026, passed the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, voting 77 to 22 to approve a sweeping overhaul of the rules governing college athletics. The bill is titled "to protect the name, image, and likeness rights of, and provide protections for, student athletes and to promote fair competition among intercollegiate athletics, and for other purposes." It was sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, introduced June 2, 2026, and Sen. John Thune later submitted a substitute amendment, S.Amdt. 6776, with the Senate considering that amended version.

According to the official bill summary, the measure establishes federal requirements for athletes' name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements and provides a limited antitrust exemption for schools and conferences to pool and sell media rights. The bill prohibits institutions, conferences, or associations such as the NCAA from restricting student athletes from entering NIL agreements, subject to specified limitations; requires students to report NIL compensation greater than $600; requires agents to register with a state and caps agent endorsement contract fees at 5%; and provides student athletes with one transfer without losing athletic eligibility. It also generally prohibits Division I conferences from reducing required varsity or Olympic sports, requiring large institutions ($80 million or more in annual athletics revenue) to maintain at least their 2024-25 level of grant-in-aid opportunities and roster spots for non-revenue sports, a protection that expires nine years after enactment. The antitrust exemption for jointly transferring telecasting rights requires participation from at least 75% of the institutions in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Supporters framed the bill as a bipartisan rescue of a system in crisis. Sen. Ted Cruz said the Senate had "an opportunity to do something that doesn't happen nearly enough in Washington," arguing that "College sports today are in crisis" after "court decisions, litigation, conflicting State laws, unlimited transfers, eligibility issues, and inconsistent enforcement" had created what he called "the Wild West." Cruz said the bill "protects the rights of student-athletes to earn money from their name, image, and likeness," "establishes clear, enforceable rules governing eligibility and transfers," and "protects women's sports and Olympic sports from being sacrificed in an unchecked spending arms race." Sen. Maria Cantwell said the bill "will put that into law for the first time—the first-time athletes will get a Federal preemption on NIL rights and revenue sharing that will be historic."

Opponents, led by Sen. Cory Booker, argued the bill protects powerful institutions rather than athletes. Booker said he rose "to speak forcefully against the Protect College Sports Act," describing the NCAA as "a serial monopolist, controlling an industry over $15 billion strong and rapidly growing" with "a long record of ignoring the cries for justice from exploited college athletes." He said the bill "would make it harder for athletes to sign NIL deals," that Section 118 "gives the NCAA sweeping immunity from antitrust liability," and criticized it as having been "written without input from college athletes themselves." Booker also said the bill "offers only temporary protections for women's and Olympic sports while permanent antitrust exemptions for the NCAA," noting that under section 125 "the protections expire in 4 to 9 years" while "the NCAA's antitrust exemption is permanent."

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