Senate Passes Protect College Sports Act 77-22

Legislation moves to House for consideration

The Protect College Sports Act enshrines rights and health and safety benefits for college athletes into federal law, protects athletes from predatory agents and secures the future of women’s and Olympic sports

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an overwhelming bipartisan 77-22 vote, the U.S. Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act, led by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), sending the bill to the House for consideration. The legislation is also co-sponsored by Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Peter Welch, (D-Vt.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.).    

“There are several things in this bill that are really important to enshrine into federal law at this time. First and foremost, the federal right to NIL [Name, Image and Likeness],” Sen. Cantwell said in a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote.

“But compensation on revenue sharing is probably the most important thing we could possibly enshrine in federal law today. This is [Congress] saying, for the first time, that an athlete gets a percentage of the media rights, the ticket sales and the sponsorship.”

She continued: “We also believe in a health and safety standard in federal law, one that protects the athletes beyond the way the law works today and gives them the right to sue and hold these people accountable for any kind of health and safety violations […] And then medical coverage for five years post eligibility, and capping agents’ [fees] at 5%.”

“We need to stop stealing money out of college [and] university institutions for education, for tuition, for professors, and putting it into an arms race on sports,” Sen. Cantwell said. “It is putting a pin in the problems to stabilize the loss of women’s and Olympic [sports] and to create the opportunity to discuss the larger structure moving forward. That is why I think we have so much support.”

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 health and safety protections in federal law, reining in predatory agents, expanding revenue for all schools and preserving and protecting the future of women’s and Olympic sports.

Today, Sen. Cantwell urged her colleagues to support the bill in a speech on the Senate floor. Video of Sen. Cantwell’s floor speech is HERE; a transcript is HERE.

On September 15, Sen. Cantwell’s office 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.

On September 14, 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’s new guaranteed protections for student athletes include:

1. Granting student athletes a new federal right to earn compensation for their NIL and replaces the patchwork of state laws with a strong national law.
2. Capping agent fees at 5 percent to clamp down on predatory agents.
3. Guaranteeing scholarships for ten years after eligibility, so athletes can complete their degrees and ensuring student athletes cannot lose their scholarship because of injury or a bad game.
4. Requiring Division I schools to cover out-of-pocket medical costs for athletic injuries or illness for current student athletes and five years post-eligibility.
5. Preventing women’s and Olympic sports from being cut by requiring schools to maintain a minimum number of sports.
6. Giving 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.

For more details, see a summary of the bill HERE. A list of amendments that the Senate adopted ahead of the bill’s passage this evening is available HERE.

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