Protect College Sports Act: A Landmark Bill Awaits the Return of the U.S. Senate

Introduction

Despite receiving the endorsement of the Big Ten Conference (“Big Ten”) and the Southeastern Conference (“SEC”) in early August of this year, the Protect College Sports Act of 2026 (S. 4668), a bill introduced with bipartisan support that would establish a national framework for college athletics, did not get a floor vote in the U.S. Senate before its annual August recess. Meanwhile, the complicated ecosystem surrounding college sports continues to evolve at a dizzying pace, with consequential battles to define the new normal for universities, student athletes, and other constituencies being fought in statehouses and courtrooms rather than on the playing fields.

As the Senate is scheduled to return for regular business on September 14, 2026, a broad coalition of stakeholders is urging lawmakers to pass the bill and, thus, provide a federal solution to the challenges facing college athletics. Former University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban has appeared in recent advertisements sponsored by Saving College Sports, a 501(c)(4) advocacy group, in support of the legislation. A Senate cloture vote is expected later this month, which would set the stage for consideration of the bill on the floor.

This Client Alert highlights certain key provisions of the current text of this proposed legislation. Please note that the bill is subject to revision during the legislative process.

Background

Since 2021, when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) suspended certain amateurism rules prohibiting the practice, college athletes have been permitted to monetize the commercial use of their name, image, and likeness (“NIL”). Following this historic policy shift, the framework of college sports became further fragmented on several fronts. A piecemeal system of differing state NIL laws arose, with NIL collectives funding payments to athletes. There were also significant changes in the rules governing athlete eligibility and transfers.

Amid the changing landscape, on June 6, 2025, a California federal court granted final approval of the groundbreaking $2.8 billion settlement in House v. NCAA. The House settlement allows schools to share athletics revenue directly with athletes (subject to an annual cap) and establishes an NIL clearinghouse to review certain third-party arrangements. However, despite being one of the most consequential developments in the history of college athletics, the House settlement lacks the broad reach of federal legislative action. Among other issues, this court-approved settlement cannot preempt conflicting state laws as a matter of constitutional law or protect the NCAA from future antitrust challenges.

Protect College Sports Act of 2026

The Protect College Sports Act of 2026 (the “Act”) appears to be the most viable federal legislative proposal on college athletics to date in the post-House era. It follows the earlier and unsuccessful Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act (known as the SCORE Act), which was unable to secure sufficient support in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Act seeks to codify much of the House settlement framework and preempt conflicting state laws. In fact, federal preemption is likely the central and most essential feature of the Act.

Broadly, the Act would provide the NCAA, its conferences, and schools with targeted federal antitrust protection to enforce rules on athlete compensation, eligibility, transfers, agent oversight, and recruiting. It would also codify the revenue-sharing cap introduced in the House settlement and establish a retention fund for direct compensation from schools to student athletes.

The Act also features a series of athlete-facing protections, including NIL rights, transfer and eligibility rules, medical coverage, governance representation, and enforcement mechanisms including a private right of action. Notably, the Act remains neutral on whether student athletes should be classified as employees, leaving that question for further debate.

Title I of the Act – Athlete Protections and Fair Competition

Title I addresses various rights and protections afforded to student athletes, including NIL compensation restrictions and related compliance obligations for schools, conferences, and the NCAA. Key provisions include:

• Revenue-sharing cap. The House settlement established a revenue-sharing cap permitting schools to share athletics revenue directly with student athletes, set at approximately $20.5 million per school for the 2025–26 academic year. The Act codifies this cap and provides that, if it survives the House settlement’s 2035 expiration through congressional approval, it will then be recalculated every three years based on 22% of average shared conference revenue, with 4% annual increases between recalculations, subject to a publicly available, independent third-party audit.
• Retention fund. Creates a separate “athlete retention fund” exception allowing institutions to exceed the revenue-sharing cap by up to $22.5 million annually (expandable up to $27.5 million for schools investing further in women’s and Olympic NIL opportunities) to retain student athletes with at least one full season at that institution, bringing the total potential per-school compensation limit to an estimated $48.8 million when combined with the current revenue-sharing cap. Unlike the revenue-sharing cap, the retention fund exception has no built-in mechanism for continuation past its nine-year sunset—schools would need to revert to the base cap unless Congress enacts new legislation extending it.
• NIL rights and disclosure. Codifies student-athletes’ right to earn NIL compensation and enter into NIL agreements, requiring that such agreements must be for a valid business purpose and compensation is “commensurate with compensation paid to individuals with a similar profile, reputation, or notability who are not student athletes or prospective student athletes.” NIL agreements directly between an athlete and their own institution are exempt from this standard, though still subject to the revenue-sharing cap. NIL compensation exceeding $600 in a 12-month period must generally be disclosed within five days.
• Pre-enrollment compensation. Prohibits providing compensation to a prospective (not-yet-enrolled) student athlete prior to enrollment, with narrow exceptions for compensation to attend a development camp.
• Anti-circumvention certification. Requires institutions, upon request by their intercollegiate athletic association, to certify that a student-athlete’s NIL agreement is not being used to circumvent the revenue-sharing cap and that the institution is not the party actually negotiating or determining the compensation paid.
• Agent regulation. Prohibits agents from charging a student athlete a fee in connection with an endorsement contract that exceeds 5% of the value of the endorsement contract. Agents must also be certified and registered, and athletic associations must maintain public registries of certified agents.
• Transfers and eligibility. Guarantees student athletes a one-time, penalty-free transfer, with certain additional exceptions in special circumstances. Establishes a five-year eligibility window tied to the earlier of a student athlete’s 19th birthday or initial enrollment at an institution.
• Health, safety, and medical coverage. Requires comprehensive medical coverage during athletic participation and for five years post-eligibility, standardized safety protocols, and autonomous medical decision-making authority for team medical staff.
• Scholarship and academic protections. Prohibits revocation or reduction of grant-in-aid based on athletic performance, injury, or roster management, and bars institutions from pressuring athletes on academic decisions.
• Governance and oversight. Requires at least one-third of governing board or rulemaking committee membership to consist of current or recently graduated student athletes, and mandates an independent, confidential Office of the Student Athlete Ombudsman.
• Enforcement. Creates a private right of action for athletes and whistleblower protections for individuals reporting violations.

Title II of the Act – Sports Broadcasting and Media Rights

Title II amends the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 to establish a framework for collective media-rights negotiations and to limit further conference realignment. Key provisions include:

• Conditional antitrust exemption. Permits conferences and institutions to form a voluntary “covered entity” to collectively negotiate media rights, with antitrust protection available only if at least 75% of Football Bowl Subdivision (“FBS”) institutions participate and membership is offered on fair, nondiscriminatory terms.
• Revenue distribution. Requires minimum guaranteed distributions to each participating member (measured against historical media-rights revenue, excluding College Football Playoff revenue), plus an additional equal-share distribution of no less than 15% of remaining revenues among FBS members.
• Exclusions. NCAA basketball tournament rights are expressly excluded from the covered entity’s authority and cannot be pooled or transferred collectively.
• Conference merger restrictions. Bars conferences with more than $700 million in annual revenue from merging with or acquiring the assets or media rights of another conference, if doing so would reduce the resulting conference to less than 75% of total FBS membership, and separately caps such a conference at 19 institutions when acquiring a smaller, non-covered institution’s assets or media rights.
• Protection of women’s and Olympic sports. Any institution receiving collective media-rights revenue must maintain scholarship and roster levels for non-revenue, women’s, and Olympic sports programs at or above 2024–25 levels.
• Local broadcast access and season structure. Mandates local, cost-free broadcast access to football and basketball games within an institution’s home market, and adjusts protected broadcast windows and the college football season’s end date.

Title III of the Act – HBCU Sports Media and Connectivity

Title III establishes a federal grant program to fund broadband, media, and technology infrastructure at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The Act also creates a 24-member congressional commission, with dedicated seats for HBCU and mid-sized-conference representatives.

Legislative Update

The Senate Commerce Committee approved the Act by a bipartisan 19–9 vote on June 18, 2026, and released a substitute text over the following weeks incorporating several amendments. The Big Ten and SEC, which initially opposed the bill’s revenue-sharing structure, announced their support on August 1, 2026, following negotiations that added the new athlete retention fund to the existing revenue-sharing cap.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a cloture motion on August 5, 2026 in hopes that the Senate could vote on the Act before its annual August recess. However, on August 8, 2026, the Senate adjourned for five weeks without a vote taking place. According to press reports, the delay resulted from a combination of factors, including an already crowded floor calendar and objections concerning the scope of federal preemption and the lack of a collective-bargaining mechanism.

Thune has announced that he intends to bring the Act to the floor when the Senate reconvenes this month.

Conclusion

While the Act’s prospects have improved considerably given the Big Ten and SEC endorsements, its path forward remains uncertain. Even assuming the Senate approves the legislation in some form, the House would need to take action, with any bill needing final approval in both chambers of Congress before being presented to the President for signature or veto. The Act, which would fundamentally reshape the landscape of college athletics, has become a focal point in the national debate over the future of college sports. As Congress considers whether to move to a uniform federal standard, attorneys at Stites & Harbison will continue to monitor the Act and related developments affecting the business and regulation of college athletics.