The Protect College Sports Act of 2026 would set uniform federal rules for paying, protecting, and representing college athletes, overriding the patchwork of 30-plus state NIL laws and parts of the recent House court settlement. Schools, conferences, and the NCAA could no longer block athletes from earning money for their name, image, and likeness, though Division I athletes would report deals over $600 to their school. The bill caps sports-agent fees at 5 percent of an endorsement's value, lets athletes sue agents and void forced-arbitration clauses, and keeps the House settlement's revenue-share cap on direct school-to-athlete pay, extending it with yearly inflation adjustments. It adds athlete protections including guaranteed medical coverage, scholarships shielded from injury or performance cuts, and one penalty-free transfer. In a major shift, it shields the NCAA, conferences, and schools from antitrust suits when they enforce these rules and lets them jointly sell TV rights through a single entity, while barring billion-dollar conferences from shrinking mergers and requiring one free local broadcast of each home football and basketball game.
Corporate Benefits
- Antitrust exemption for athletic associations — shields NCAA and conferences enforcing pay-cap and eligibility rules
- Antitrust exemption for media-rights sales — lets schools and conferences jointly sell broadcast rights as one entity
- Conference merger ability — bars billion-dollar conferences from mergers that shrink membership
Average Household Impact
- Athlete revenue-share cap — limit on direct school-to-athlete pay codified and extended past the settlement
- Athlete NIL earning rights — schools and associations barred from blocking name, image, and likeness deals
- Agent fees on athlete deals — capped at 5 percent of an endorsement contract's value
- Athlete medical coverage — out-of-pocket and catastrophic injury costs covered during play and 5 years after
- Scholarship protections — aid cannot be cut for injury, athletic performance, or roster decisions
- Free local broadcasts — one free over-the-air feed required for each home football and basketball game
Civil Liberties
- Athlete right to sue — pre-dispute arbitration clauses void against student athletes
- Class-action access — pre-dispute joint-action waivers unenforceable against athletes
- Right to representation — schools cannot penalize athletes for hiring an agent or lawyer
Transparency & Accountability
- Student Athlete Ombudsman — new independent office to advise athletes and resolve disputes
- Congressional Commission — new 20-member commission with subpoena power on college athletics
- Whistleblower protections — anti-retaliation rights for those reporting violations
- Athlete governing-board seats — at least one-third of association boards must be athletes
- Agent registration — agents must register with a state and certify to associations
- NIL deal database — associations must publish a searchable, anonymized NIL database
- Institutional financial reporting — schools must report athletic revenue, expenses, and academic outcomes
- NIL disclosure requirement — athletes must report deals over $600 to their school
Congressional Summary
Protect College Sports Act of 2026This 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
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-06-02
- Date Added
- 2026-06-24
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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