YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyWorkers & JobsCivil LibertiesCorporate BenefitsTransparency & AccountabilitySets pay rules for college sports, caps what schools can pay players, and shields the NCAA from antitrust suits.
Your Money
Schools, conferences, and the NCAA could not stop an athlete from selling their name, image, or likeness. To use a group of athletes in an ad, a company would need each one to agree.
Division I schools would pay copays, deductibles, and the cost of a second opinion for injuries from their sport. That runs while the athlete plays and for five years after the last game.
A school could not pull sports aid over an injury, a bad season, or a roster cut. Athletes who left in the last 10 years without a degree would be offered aid to come back and finish.
An agent could not charge a college athlete more than 5 percent of an endorsement deal's value. Agents would also have to register with a state before representing an athlete.
For each football and basketball game, the joint TV group would have to offer at least one local station the chance to air it free. This applies only in the home markets of schools that join the group.
Schools that take money from the joint TV group could not offer fewer scholarships or roster spots in sports that lose money. The floor is what each school offered in the 2024-2025 school year.
A 2025 court settlement limits how much each school can pay its athletes directly. The bill keeps that limit in force after the settlement ends and raises it each year for inflation.
Workers & Jobs
Schools would have to follow set rules on head injuries, heat illness, sickle cell trait, and asthma. These are NCAA and sports medicine guidelines now. The bill would make them law.
Team doctors, trainers, and therapists would have the last word on when a hurt athlete plays again. Coaches and other staff could not lean on them or overrule them.
Athletic department staff could not stop an athlete from taking a job, an internship, or a spot in a student group. They also could not push an athlete out of a chosen major.
A football coach or coordinator could not take over as head coach at another school in the same season. Breaking the rule costs the coach the next season too. It covers only top-tier football.
Civil Liberties
Schools, conferences, and the NCAA could not make athletes sign away their right to go to court before a dispute happens. An athlete could still choose arbitration after a dispute starts.
Athletes could join in one lawsuit even after signing away that right. In the athlete title, this holds when at least seven of them are named in the suit.
Getting an agent or a lawyer could not cost an athlete a spot on the team or in a competition. Endorsement contracts would also have to state that right in writing.
Every athlete gets one move with no lost playing time. More free moves apply if the sport is dropped, the head coach leaves, the athlete is harassed, or they start grad school.
Men's and women's teams at the same level must get equal care at title events. That covers food, lodging, rest, travel, medical care, and the fields they play on.
Before filing, an athlete would have to warn the school or association in writing and wait 60 days. If the problem is fixed in that window, the lawsuit is barred.
Anyone harmed by the joint TV group would have to give notice a full year before filing suit. If the group fixes the problem inside that year, no suit is allowed.
Corporate Benefits
No one could sue the NCAA, conferences, or schools under antitrust law for enforcing the pay cap, transfer limits, or who may play. They must first put those rules in their bylaws.
The new rules would apply to any case already in court on the day the bill becomes law. Antitrust claims being fought right now could be cut off.
Schools and conferences could pool their broadcast rights and sell them as one group. Joining is optional, but the group needs at least 75 percent of top-tier football schools.
Every school in the joint TV group must be paid more each year than its best single year of media money between 2021 and 2025. At least 10 current or former athletes would hold votes on how the pool is split.
A conference that reported over $1 billion on its 2025 tax return could not absorb another conference if the deal shrinks membership below the joint group's threshold. Such a deal would be void.
A company that buys rights to sports other than football and basketball would have to show those games within a year. If it does not, and does not fix that in 180 more days, the rights go back to the school.
Transparency & Accountability
The NCAA and similar groups would have to publish a searchable, anonymous database of what athletes' deals are worth. Athletes and their agents could use it to judge a fair price.
Division I athletes would have to tell their school the terms of any deal worth more than $600. The school cannot release those details without the athlete's written consent, and the $600 line rises with inflation.
The NCAA would pay for an office that answers athletes' questions and helps settle fights, free of charge. What athletes tell that office stays private and cannot be forced into court.
Schools, conferences, and associations could not fire, demote, or punish anyone for reporting a violation. Someone who wins such a case gets their job back with back pay and legal costs.
Current athletes, or ones who graduated in the last 10 years, would hold at least a third of the votes on boards that write and enforce the rules. Employees of schools or conferences do not count toward that share.
A 20-member panel named by Congress would hold public hearings on athlete pay, health rules, and the pay cap. It could subpoena records and must report within five years.
More about this bill
College athletes would get national rules for getting paid, and a firm ceiling on what schools can pay them. Schools, conferences, and the NCAA could no longer stop an athlete from selling the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Division I athletes would report any deal worth more than $600 to their school within 30 days. A cap on how much each school can share with its athletes would become permanent. That cap comes from a 2025 court settlement and would rise each year with inflation. Agents could charge no more than 5 percent of an endorsement deal. The bill also picks up medical bills and locks in scholarships. Division I schools would pay copays and deductibles for injuries from their sport. That coverage would last five years after an athlete's last game. Schools could not cut a scholarship for an injury, a bad season, or a roster change. Concussion and heat-illness rules would become federal requirements within 270 days. Team doctors, not coaches, would decide when a hurt athlete plays again. Athletes would gain more ways to push back. Each would get one transfer without losing a year of eligibility. Schools could not bench an athlete for hiring an agent or a lawyer. Clauses that force disputes into arbitration would not hold up against athletes. But an athlete would have to give 60 days' notice before suing. A school that fixes the problem in that window could not be sued at all. A new ombudsman office would give athletes free, confidential advice. Athletes would hold at least a third of the seats on the boards that write the rules. The largest change for everyone else is on television. Schools and conferences could pool their broadcast rights and sell them as one group, free of antitrust risk. Each football and basketball game would have to be offered to at least one local station that airs it free. The NCAA and conferences would also be shielded from antitrust suits when they enforce the pay cap and eligibility rules. That shield would reach lawsuits already in court. Conferences with over $1 billion in revenue could not merge in ways that shrink the field. State laws that conflict with these rules would be overridden. The bill says it takes no position on whether college athletes are employees.
Congressional Summary
Protect College Sports Act of 2026 This bill establishes requirements for name, image, or likeness (NIL) agreements for college student athletes and provides a limited antitrust exemption for schools and conferences to pool and sell certain college sports media rights. The requirements address elements of the court-approved agreement to settle In re College Athlete NIL Litigation (i.e., House settlement). First, the bill statutorily prohibits institutions, conferences, or interstate intercollegiate athletic associations (e.g., the National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA]) from restricting student athletes from entering NIL agreements (subject to specified limitations). Students must report to their institution NIL compensation greater than $600. The bill requires agents to register with a state and caps agent endorsement contract fees at 5%. The bill also provides student athletes with one transfer without losing athletic eligibility and restricts football personnel from becoming the head football coach at a different institution during the same season. Further, the bill prohibits institutions, conferences, or specified entities acting for the benefit of an institution from providing athletes with compensation that circumvents the limit on sharing revenue with student athletes established under the House settlement. The bill also makes the limit permanent and provides for an annual inflation adjustment. Additionally, the bill establishes (subject to specified conditions) a limited antitrust exemption for institutions or conferences that form joint agreements to transfer their sports telecasting rights to a third party. Such an agreement requires participation from at least 75% of the institutions in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2026-06-04
- Date Added
- 2026-06-23
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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