Two U.S. senators announced plans on Wednesday for a bipartisan college sports bill attempting to stabilize an industry dealing with issues such as athlete eligibility, transfers and a spending cap as well as conference power plays.
The Protect College Sports Act, written by Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), would restore more power to the NCAA with an antitrust exemption as it has faced court challenges in recent years. The Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that college sports are not exempt from antitrust laws, and the NCAA has had difficulty enforcing rules regulating the marketplace for paying players, such as for name, image and likeness.
“This is a stability bill, not just an NIL bill,” Cruz said.
The bill also would give conferences the ability to pool their broadcast rights into one large TV deal and also prevent the possibility of the Big Ten and Southeastern (SEC) conferences breaking away into a “super league.”
“The courts have produced a system with unlimited transfers, pro athletes playing college ball, and shady NIL deals,” Cruz and Cantwell’s offices said in a shared statement about the bill. “Schools and governing bodies need the ability to preserve fair competition, protect student athletes from exploitation, and ensure that programs across the country can survive.”
Cruz and Cantwell are the highest-ranking members of their respective parties on the Senate Commerce Committee, which could help gain enough bipartisan support to get the required 60 votes for the bill in the Senate.
A vote on the SCORE Act, a separate college sports bill that originated in the U.S. House of Representatives, was canceled a week ago after political differences and disagreements over power given to the NCAA and top conferences.
A legal settlement last year led to the NCAA and major conferences to abide by a spending cap of slightly more than $20 million annually per school. But multiple reports have revealed that the richest teams are attempting to work around the cap through business partners supplementing payrolls. A top-tier football roster could cost closer to $40 million, per the reports, creating competitive imbalance.
The new legislation will provide legal protection for the newly formed College Sports Commission to close such pay-for-play loopholes.
The disparity between the conferences at the top — the Big Ten and SEC each reported more than $1 billion in revenue in the 2025 fiscal year — and other conferences also would be addressed. Conferences can share money from future TV deals more evenly as one large group — if 75% of FBS schools join.
The Big Ten and SEC, which may not favor such an arrangement, might consider expanding through realignment and creating a super conference with its own rules and media rights deals.
The bill allows undergraduates only one immediate transfer without penalty and requires sitting out one season for multiple transfers. There will be a five-year eligibility window that bans professional athletes from competing.
Coaches cannot leave their school for another one during their sport’s season, in the new bill.
“Senator Cruz and I have been very concerned about producing a bill that’s not just about the 1% of athletes who go on and have a professional career,” Cantwell said. “We took care of the entire ecosystem and have opportunities for athletes to continue to have that collegiate experience.”
The Protect College Sports Act does not define college athletes as non-employees of the school, leading to the possibility of the athletes pursuing collective bargaining in the future.
–Field Level Media
