Senate to vote on Protect College Sports Act
By Jefferson Penrod,
September 16, 2026
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The Senate voted Tuesday to move forward with voting on the Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan, NCAA-supported bill that would install federal guidelines and protections for collegiate athletics.After months of deliberation and committee review, the bill — co-sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) — takes the next step towards becoming law. The motion to proceed passed by a 74-24 margin.ESPN had Ted Cruz on 'College GameDay' in a conversation with Rece Davis for nearly 10 minutes.
Cruz was heavily booed by the crowd -- and heard "Ted, you suck!" chants -- in Austin. pic.twitter.com/npQesiYMsG— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 12, 2026
The text of the bill says its purpose is “to protect the name, image, and likeness rights of, and provide protections for, student athletes and to promote fair competition among intercollegiate athletics, and for other purposes."This is the latest attempt to regulate college sports in both the fields of eligibility, the transfer portal, and NIL. Since the initial allowance of student-athletes to profit off of their own name, image, and likeness by the NCAA in 2021, and the recent barrage of lawsuits against the NCAA by student athletes suing for additional eligibility, the NCAA has lobbied Congress to codify some sort of regulation into federal law.The bill, which has been backed by President Trump’s executive office, has also been supported by a number of current and former high-profile names in collegiate sports, such as retired college football coach Nick Saban and current Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari.Nick Saban commercial promoting the passing of the Protect College Sports Act has been released https://t.co/RKh2oSmNZt pic.twitter.com/8UPWqnmlvu— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) September 2, 2026
The Protect College Sports Act would institute regulations for transfers, eligibility, agents, and NIL agreements. The bill would also grant the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption, and prohibit under federal law both breaking as well as changing the rules put in place. Those rules would stem from this legislation as well as the 2025 House settlement, which allowed for revenue sharing between the schools and athletes.Codifying this bill would prevent much of the noise/controversy surrounding collegiate athletics at the moment. Instances such as the SEC/LSU lawsuit over NFL training camp participants joining the roster, or topically for BYU, the two Arizona players that were added to the roster just days before BYU’s 28-17 win over the Wildcats, would be outlawed under this legislation.The bill itself says that it would be immediately applied once passed into law, both with proceedings that are pending at the time of its passing as well as instances that would arise afterwards. That would affect athletes whose current eligibility is allowed under a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction, as is the case with the vast majority of student-athletes suing for a fifth year of eligibility. If a suit were to be ruled on with finality in favor of student athletes, it likely would stand—unless the NCAA were to appeal the case following the potential codifying of the bill.The bill, after passing through the Senate, would go to the House, which would vote on it following November’s midterm elections. No date for a final passage vote in the Senate has been set.
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ncaa
ncaa football
big 12
byu sports
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