The Protect College Sports Act is heading toward a full Senate vote, potentially arriving as soon as this week amid growing pressure to act before the summer recess.
The bill was co-authored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), drawing bipartisan support for a sweeping overhaul of college athletics governance.
The Senate Commerce Committee voted 19-9 to advance the legislation, clearing a significant procedural hurdle on its path toward becoming federal law.
At its core, the bill would grant the NCAA and athletic conferences a limited antitrust exemption, allowing them to enforce rules on athlete compensation, eligibility, and transfers.
Key provisions include reinstating the one-time transfer exception, standardizing a five-year eligibility policy, banning professional athletes from returning to college sports, and establishing an agent registry with a maximum fee of 5%.
The legislation would also close a major loophole that allowed multimedia rights partners, corporate sponsors, and apparel brands to pay athletes beyond the cap set under the House settlement.
Under the current House settlement framework, schools could pay athletes up to $20.5 million per school in the 2025-26 academic year, but the Protect College Sports Act would raise that figure significantly to $48.8 million.
Schools would receive an additional $27.5 million allotment specifically designated to retain players, on top of the existing $21.3 million cap already established through the House v. NCAA settlement.
The bill also creates a framework allowing schools to collectively sell media rights as a single large entity rather than on a conference-by-conference basis, a move intended to fund less profitable sports programs.
The Big Ten and Southeastern Conference, college sports’ two most powerful and financially dominant conferences, agreed to back the legislation after receiving last-minute concessions on language regarding third-party NIL deals and associated entities.
School presidents from both conferences voted to support the bill following a week of tense negotiations that had threatened to derail what sponsors had described as a historic legislative opportunity.
A Senate aide said there was “technically still time” for Senate Majority Leader John Thune to call the bill for a full Senate floor vote before the chamber recesses.
The Senate begins its summer recess on August 7, and without a floor vote before that deadline, the legislation’s prospects would narrow considerably heading into a compressed political calendar.
Even if the Senate approves the bill, it would still require passage in the House of Representatives before reaching the president’s desk for a final signature into law.
Supporters argue that Senate ratification alone would represent one of the most significant milestones in college sports history and a major victory capping the NCAA’s seven-year lobbying effort for congressional intervention.
