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S. 4668119th CongressSports and Recreation
Protect College Sports Act of 2026
Sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) · 9 active : 4 Republicans, 5 Democrats
Latest action: Held at the desk.
Where it standsBefore the Senate11 senators score as swing votes
Passed Senate
- Senate: passedSep 28, 2026
- House: next
- President: not yet
Summary
, via Congress.govProtect 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
).
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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.
The bill generally prohibits Division I conferences from reducing the number of varsity or Olympic sports teams that a member institution must sponsor. Specifically, large institutions ($80 million or more in annual athletics revenue) must offer and maintain at least as many grant-in-aid opportunities and roster spots for sports that do not generate positive net revenue as the institution provided during academic year 2024-25. The bill provides for a waiver of this requirement under certain circumstances of financial hardship and the requirements expire nine years after the enactment of the bill.
Committees and subjects
Committees
- Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · SenateMarkup by · Referred to
Subjects
- Athletes
- Contracts and agency
- Digital media
- Higher education
- Inflation and prices
- Intellectual property
- Licensing and registrations
- School athletics
- State and local government operations
- Television and film
- User charges and fees
- Wages and earnings
Model
Directional: count only breaks toward the other partyWhy do scores change?v3default (selected)v2 model swing-v2
How the Senate breaks down
- 11Swing 70–100
- 65Middle 30–70
- 24Entrenched 0–30
Members fall into . All 100 senators have enough data to score.
Key players in the Senate
Ranked by swing score, 0–100 · swing-v3Bars show each input from 0 to 100: ideology gap, scorecard gap, , and the . is the seat’s partisan lean, and shows how much of the input data a score has.
Similar past votes, Senate
Earlier behind swing-v3’s inputLoading similar votes
Cosponsors
9 activeShow all 9 cosponsors
- Christopher A. Coons (D-DE)
- Eric Schmitt (R-MO)
- Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
- Peter Welch (D-VT)
- Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
- John W. Hickenlooper (D-CO)
- Pete Ricketts (R-NE)
- Ben Ray Luján (D-NM)
- John Hoeven (R-ND)
How the swing score works
Ideology gapHow far a member’s DW-NOMINATE voting score sits from their party’s median in the same chamber.
Scorecard gapHow far their Heritage Action and LCV ratings stray from their party’s average, using the groups’ votes on similar bills where available.
Cross-pressureHow strongly their district or state leans toward the other party, from our own computed partisan lean.
Similar votesHow often they voted against their own party on earlier roll calls about this bill or similar ones.
Committee bonusMembers of the committees handling the bill decide whether it moves, so they get a boost.
Cosponsor checkThe sponsor and active cosponsors have already committed, so they drop toward entrenched.
