Senate Votes 74-24 To Advance Cantwell’s Bipartisan Protect College Sports Act

The Protect College Sports Act creates federal rights and protections for student athletes and secures the future of women’s and Olympic sports

Today, Cantwell’s office published a snapshot report detailing how runaway spending on athletics is harming colleges & students

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate voted 74-24 to invoke cloture on the Motion to Proceed to the Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan bill authored and introduced by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Following today’s vote, the bill now awaits additional votes in the Senate. If passed by the Senate, the legislation would then be considered by the House of Representatives.

In a speech on the Senate floor before the vote, Sen. Cantwell said: “This bill brings order to [college sports]. It helps women and Olympic sports, and it sets up a commission to look at the real future, which I think should include collective bargaining […] Let’s bring some sanity. Recognize that athletes do deserve revenue sharing, and that this bill will put that into law for the first time.”

Video of her speech is HERE; a transcript is HERE.

Today, Sen. Cantwell’s office also released a snapshot report detailing how the unsustainable growth in spending on college sports is amplifying financial pressures on colleges and universities. That report can be read in full HERE.

Yesterday, Sen. Cantwell joined current college athletes, coaches, and senators from both parties for a press conference at the U.S. Capitol to speak in support of the Protect College Sports Act. That press conference, which also included Gonzaga University head men’s basketball coach Mark Few, can be watched in full HERE.

The Protect College Sports Act:

PROTECTS ATHLETES:

First-ever NIL Right

Grants student athletes a new federal right to earn compensation for their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) and replaces the patchwork of state laws with a strong national NIL right.

Adopts the revenue share cap negotiated between plaintiff student-athletes and the NCAA and Power 5 conferences in the Grant House vs. NCAA settlement, but also allows tens of millions of additional dollars to flow directly from schools to student-athletes through a new $22.5 million retention fund (up to $27.5 million if schools pay athletes in non-revenue sports).
The revenue share cap can be increased or otherwise modified by agreement of the parties, and the provisions of the bill relating to the revenue share cap and retention fund are solely for the duration of the negotiated House settlement, unless Congress votes to retain them.

New Contract & Agent Rules with Real Teeth to Protect Athletes From Exploitation

NIL contracts must include key terms and cannot bind athletes beyond their eligibility for intercollegiate athletics.
Requires agents to register with a state and certify to the NCAA that they are registered before they can represent a student athlete.
Caps agent fees at 5 percent.
Prohibits an agent from misleading a student-athlete about the existence or value of NIL deals to entice the athlete to enroll or transfer.
These protections can be enforced by athletes through a private right of action or by the FTC or state attorneys general.

Academic & Scholarship Guarantee

Guarantees scholarships for ten years after eligibility, so athletes can complete their degrees.
Ensures student athletes cannot lose their scholarship because of injury or a bad game.
Prevents athletic staff from pressuring student-athletes regarding their choice of course or major.

Student Athletes’ Health and Safety Protections While in School

Requires Division I schools to cover out-of-pocket medical costs for athletic injuries or illness for current student-athletes, including covering the cost of a second opinion and providing an end-of-eligibility medical examination.
Mandates safety standards for heat exertion, brain injury, sickle cell trait, and asthma; overseen by health and safety officers independent of the athletic department.
Prevents coaches or non-medical athletic personnel from second-guessing the decisions of medical personnel about a student’s ability to play.
Requires schools to prevent, assess, and remediate abuse of athletes, hazing, sexual assault, sexual misconduct, and sexual harassment.

Healthcare Protections When the Season is Over

For Division I schools, mandates they cover out-of-pocket costs for sports-related injuries or illness for 5 years post-eligibility.
Creates a medical trust fund of at least $60 up to $100 million/year to help schools with demonstrated financial need provide post-eligibility medical coverage and to help athletes with the cost of significant, long-term conditions, like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), incurred from playing a sport. Pooled media rights revenue from the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 (SBA) covered entity may be used for this fund.

Equal Treatment in Tournaments

Requires the NCAA and conferences to maintain comparable standards across men’s and women’s teams for medical care, lodging, meals, rest, transportation, publicity and promotion, and athletic facilities at championship events or tournaments.

Strong Enforcement When Athletes’ Rights Are Violated

Gives athletes a private right of action to enforce provisions of the bill, including their NIL rights, agent protections, health and safety standards, scholarship protections and medical coverage requirements.
Athletes cannot be forced to give up their right to join a class action with more than seven named plaintiffs or enter arbitration if they seek to enforce their rights.

Protections for Women’s and Olympic Sports

Prevents women’s and Olympic sports from being cut by requiring schools to maintain a minimum number of sports and requiring schools making $80 million or more in athletic department revenue to maintain, at minimum, the same total roster spots and grant-in-aid for non-revenue sports as in 2024-2025. Establishes a waiver process including exemptions for extraordinary circumstances. For mid-sized schools with athletic department revenue between $50 and $80 million, they are subject to the same roster spot and grant-in-aid requirements for non-revenue sports as large schools; however, they have a more lenient exemption process.
Makes clear that nothing in the bill overrides, modifies, or amends the applicability of Title IX. Also provides whistleblower protections for reporting Title IX violations or participating in a Title IX challenge.
Protects para-athletes’ walk-on eligibility so all student-athletes can participate in college sports.
Requires schools that pool their media rights to promote and distribute the media rights for women’s and Olympic sports.

Athlete Ombudsman

Creates an Office of Athlete Ombudsman at the NCAA to provide independent guidance and advice to student athletes, help them resolve disputes with schools and conferences and refer them to available resources.

Whistleblower Protections

Provides whistleblower protection to individuals who report violations of the bill’s provisions or participate in legal challenges brought or about to be brought under the Act.

Student Athletes Get a Seat at the Table

Requires at least one-third of athletic association governing boards or other committees with rulemaking authority to be comprised of current or recent former student athletes.
Creates a Student Athlete Retention Council within the Commission on the Future of College Athletics to provide recommendations on the future of the retention fund.

Expands Representation and Opportunities

Requires two members of the Commission on the Future of College Athletics to be representatives from HBCUs and two members of the Commission to be representatives from a mid-sized conference.

Eligibility

Provides athletes with five years of eligibility with exceptions, including for serious injury or medical condition.

Transfer

Allows athletes to transfer once without having to sit out a year. Athletes may transfer again without sitting out a year to pursue a graduate degree, if their sport is cut, if their head coach leaves, or if they are sexually assaulted or harassed.

Prohibits Mid-Season Coaching Transitions

Prevents football coaches and key football staff from leaving mid-season to coach or otherwise effectively take over another FBS program during the same competitive season, including through recruiting, roster management, NIL activity, or game-planning functions.

EXPANDS REVENUE TO BENEFIT SCHOOLS, ATHLETES, FANS

More Revenue for Every Participating School

Schools join a voluntary collective to pool and jointly negotiate their media rights, just like the NFL, NBA, and NHL. The bill amends the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 to extend this antitrust protection to college sports.

Less Pressure on Endowments and Student Fees

New pooled revenue under this bill gives schools more financial stability without raiding academics or charging students more.

Voluntary Participation, Existing Contracts Preserved

No school or conference is forced to join. Existing media rights contracts are not abrogated.

Protections for Women’s and Olympic Sports

Schools must use pooled media revenue to maintain the same number of grant-in-aid opportunities and roster spots for non-revenue generating sports as provided in the 2024-25 academic year. Stops major programs from cutting non-revenue sports to fund football and basketball arms races.

Local Outlet Option for Football and Basketball

Requires every football and basketball game be made available on a non-exclusive basis to at least one free TV local outlet in the home market of each participating school.

Media Rights Utilization for Non-Revenue Sports

Requires distributors to reconvey media rights back to schools if those rights are not used, so non-revenue sports like volleyball, soccer, and track can grow through targeted distribution rather than sitting on a shelf.

A Move Back to Regionalism

Protects traditional rivalries on football schedules to ensure fans still get to see their favorite teams play each other.

Prohibits Mid-season Coaching Transitions

Prevents football coaches and key football staff from leaving mid-season to coach or otherwise effectively take over another FBS program during the same competitive season, including through recruiting, roster management, NIL activity, or game-planning functions.

Sen. Cantwell is leading the effort to reform college sports and ensure tomorrow’s athletes have the same opportunities as today’s competitors. The Protect College Sports Act of 2026 sets new rules and provides new tools to stabilize college sports, including codifying athletes’ rights to earn compensation for their NIL, enshrining scholarship and healthcare protections in law, reining in predatory agents, expanding revenue for all schools, and preserving and protecting the future of women’s and Olympic sports.

In June, at a landmark hearing on the bill, the Commerce Committee heard powerful testimony on the worsening crisis facing college athletics, including the future of women’s and Olympic sports, athletes’ rights, and the financial sustainability of the entire collegiate sports system.

In December of last year, she introduced the Helping Undergraduate Students Thrive with Long-Term Earnings (HUSTLE Act) with Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) so that college athletes earning NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) money can protect more of it for their post-playing lives. In October, Sen. Cantwell joined former college and professional athletes and Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in warning that the SCORE Act would roll-back hard fought NIL rights and health protections, leave athletes vulnerable to unscrupulous agents, short-change women’s and Olympic sports, and shut the door on collective bargaining rights.

Last September, Sen. Cantwell, joined by co-sponsors Sens. Booker and Blumenthal, introduced the Student Athlete Fairness and Enforcement (SAFE) Act to codify athletes’ rights and protections in law, expand revenue for all schools, support women’s and Olympic sports, and bring much-needed stability to the college sports system.

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