To Protect America’s Student Athletes and Rich Tradition of College Athletics, the Senate Voted to Begin Consideration of the Protect College Sports Act
IN RECENT YEARS, COLLEGE SPORTS HAS BEEN THROWN INTO DISARRAY, JEOPARDIZING THE FINANCIAL STABILITY OF ATHLETIC PROGRAMS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
“The Protect College Sports Act is our last best chance to preserve one of America’s great unifying traditions for the athletes who compete and the fans who fill the stands. This landmark bipartisan legislation will halt the chaos that is unfolding across the nation and restore order to the ongoing arms race, while preserving opportunities for hundreds of thousands of student athletes.” – Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
- “College athletics remain enormously popular—generating roughly $19 billion annually and drawing record television audiences—but that success rests on an increasingly unstable foundation.” (Manhattan Institute: Checkbooks vs. Textbooks: Big Money and the Crisis in the College Sports – 3/12/26)
- “The recent commercial success of college athletics was made possible, in part, by a series of legal and policy changes that have transformed the system. Court rulings limiting the NCAA’s regulatory authority and the legalization of compensation through name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals have created a new marketplace for college athletes. Players can also more easily transfer between schools, creating a growing market for student-athlete talent.” (Manhattan Institute: Checkbooks vs. Textbooks: Big Money and the Crisis in the College Sports – 3/12/26)
- In the NIL era of college sports, the most elite football and men’s basketball programs spend millions of dollars annually on their teams, making it nearly impossible for smaller teams to compete and threatening the solvency of non-football and men’s basketball programs entirely:
- There are over 550,000 NCAA student athletes across the country, the vast majority of whom don’t play Division I football or men’s basketball. (NCAA: A record number of NCAA student-athletes participated in 2024-25 – 9/15/25)
- “Schools are cutting those Olympic or non-revenue sports, which cost more money than they generate. It’s especially true as football and men’s basketball use more of the revenue they bring in, especially with new rules that allow colleges to share revenue with athletes.” (WRAL: ‘Pressures are real’: Colleges grapple with future of Olympic sports amid football spending boom – 5/17/26)
- “More than 415 college teams have been cut, merged or reclassified since March 2024, according to one report due to financial strains.” (WRAL: ‘Pressures are real’: Colleges grapple with future of Olympic sports amid football spending boom – 5/17/26)
- “If things don’t change, we are headed toward a future where college athletics, and specifically college football, will be reduced to a super league of just a handful of the wealthiest schools. That’s a future in which America may lose its dominance in Olympic sports. A future in which hundreds of thousands of athletic scholarships disappear.” – Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
THE PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT RESTORES ORDER TO THE NCAA WHILE SUPPORTING STUDENT ATHLETES
“It’s time to stabilize college sports and ensure women, Olympic, and non-revenue athletes can still compete. For months, I have been working with my colleagues in the Senate and the Trump administration, as well as conference leaders, to save college sports. I am grateful the Trump Administration is supporting the Protect College Sports Act to strengthen this uniquely American institution.” – Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.)
- The Protect College Sports Act was advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee by a bipartisan 19-9 vote. (U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation: Fact Sheet – accessed 9/16/26)
- “The bill aims to put guardrails around escalating spending in college sports as the industry struggles to adapt to a new model in which schools can pay players.” (Associated Press: Protect College Sports Act gets renewed push and fresh opposition as college football returns – 9/14/26)
- The legislation provides several landmark pillars to support college athletes and bring order back to college sports:
- “[A]thletes will be limited to one free transfer, with additional transfers permitted under specific circumstances, including if the coach leaves, if the program is canceled, or if the athlete is a victim of sexual assault or harassment. If an athlete wishes to transfer outside of these circumstances, he or she will have to redshirt, meaning the athlete will sit out for one year.”
- “[E]liminates pro players coming back into college sports. The bill would set a standard that every athlete is entitled to five years of eligibility, with a cap at age 24.” (Daily Signal: Cruz Ensures Protections for Women in College Sports Act – 9/15/26)
- Creates “[e]nforceable recruiting and tampering rules that control when schools or agents may contact or recruit a student athlete. Prohibits fake NIL and recruiting inducements to get a student athlete to enroll or transfer in a school.”
- Enshrines “[o]ne national standard over the current patchwork of inconsistent, conflicting state NIL laws.”
- Creates “[l]egal certainty/enforcement around a revenue-sharing cap that has been agreed to by all institutions as part of the House v. NCAA Settlement.” (U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation: Fact Sheet – accessed 9/16/26)
- Prohibits “schools from poaching a coach from another school during their sport’s season.” (ESPN: Nick Saban asks Congress to ‘bring order’ via college sports bill – 6/3/26)
- “The Protect College Sports Act has received overwhelming broad support, including the backing of more than 370 universities and colleges, HBCUs, all collegiate athletic conferences, the FBS Athletics Directors Association, and hundreds of thousands of fans, coaches, student athletes, and key stakeholders.” (U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation: Media Advisory: Senators Host PCSA Press Conference With Student Athletes and Coaches - 9/11/26)
THE BILL DOES NOTHING TO UNDERMINE WOMEN’S SPORTS; IN FACT, THE PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT ENSURES ALL OLYMPIC AND WOMEN’S SPORTS WILL THRIVE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
“Twenty-seven states, including Texas, have enacted laws that keep men out of women’s sports. Those who claim the Protect College Sports Act would change these laws are straight-up wrong. The bill explicitly protects girls’ sports and enhances the protections established under Title IX. This legislation is about protecting hundreds of thousands of student athletes, including women who are seeing their sports canceled year after year.” – Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
“Without this Bill, millions of young Athletes will be hurt, programs will be canceled, Women’s and Olympic Sports will go away, the fans will be robbed, and Universities will go broke. Nobody has done more to protect Women Athletes than me — and this Bill CLEARLY protects the Laws in 27 States protecting Women’s Sports, and banning Men from Women’s Sports.” – President Donald Trump
- “The bill does not override, modify, or amend Title IX, nor does it preempt state laws regarding men competing in women’s sports. The protections that 27 states have instituted to keep males out of female sports would not be altered, and court cases litigating Title IX would not be touched.” (U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation: FACT CHECK: President Trump Underscores PCSA Protections for Women’s Sports, Calls on Senate to Pass Bill – 8/7/26)
- “In short, the Protect College Sports Act is the only college sports legislation that preserves state laws prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports.” (U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation: FACT CHECK: President Trump Underscores PCSA Protections for Women’s Sports, Calls on Senate to Pass Bill – 8/7/26)
- Specifically, the bill establishes important safeguards for women’s and Olympic sports:
- “Preserves and expands Title IX protections.”
- “Expressly prohibits cuts to women’s and Olympic programs.”
- “Creates multiple incentives to invest in women’s and Olympic sports, including a $5 million set-aside in revenue sharing payments that do not count against a revenue share cap.”
- “Requires comparable facilities and services at men’s and women’s championship events.” (U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation: Protect College Sports Act – accessed 9/16/26)
