Senators Coons, Cruz, Cantwell, Schmitt Strike Agreement to Save College Sports

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) have reached a bipartisan agreement on legislation to restore stability to college sports, titled the Protect College Sports Act of 2026. Senators Cruz and Cantwell are the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee.

The Protect College Sports Act would restore order in college athletics by creating enforceable national rules, preserving fair competition, protecting student-athletes, and ensuring fans do not lose the teams, rivalries, and traditions they love.

Additionally, the bill would end the chaos by bringing stability to transfers, eligibility, recruiting, tampering, and real Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights for athletes; protect student-athletes without turning college sports into professional sports; preserve fans' favorite games and traditions; make TV money work for college sports; and restore competitive balance to ensure all schools, not just the blue bloods, can compete.

"I have seen firsthand the effort and care Chair Cruz and Ranking Member Cantwell and their staffs have put into this process, and I am glad that it has produced a strong bill to protect and strengthen one of America's most cherished institutions, college sports," Senator Coons said. "This legislation will protect student-athletes and ensure they receive the compensation, benefits, and safeguards they've earned on the field and in the courtroom, help schools with smaller athletic departments avoid eliminating programs, and protect non-revenue sports while allowing sports such as basketball and football to continue growing. Congress should move quickly on this legislation so we can get back to what matters: cheering on our teams and the college athletes who thrill us while making sure those athletes receive the financial compensation, health care, and scholarships they deserve."

"College sports are at a breaking point," Senator Cruz said. "Fans can see their favorite teams being hollowed out by transfer chaos, fake NIL bidding wars, eligibility lawsuits, and a system that allows the richest programs to keep pulling away. The Protect College Sports Act is a bipartisan plan to restore order. Student-athletes can profit from their name, image, and likeness, but college sports still needs real rules, competitive balance, rivalries, and a true connection to education. This bill protects athletes and fans and keeps college sports from becoming a two-conference minor league."

"We're seeing thousands of men's and women's athletic roster slots and a hundred athletic programs being cut," Senator Cantwell said. "Collegiate athletics is a hallmark for human development. Let's not ruin it with out-of-control chaos. This bill puts new tools and new rules on the table to rein in runaway costs while still preserving NIL, revenue sharing, and women and Olympic sports."

"College sports bring people from every corner of our country together, but because of unlimited transfers, out-of-control eligibility and rising costs, college sports are on the brink of collapse," Senator Schmitt said. "Through this legislation we will save college sports. We are establishing an ability to enforce rules, protect athletes, and allow conferences to pool their media rights together to increase revenue. We'll be able to provide more opportunities to student-athletes, protect women's and Olympic sports, and ensure the long-term stability of college sports. I'm proud to be part of an innovative bipartisan fix that will restore balance to a system that we all cherish."

"Just a few months ago, President Trump convened a bipartisan roundtable in response to the chaos in college sports," said Randy Levine, Vice Chair of the President's Roundtable on Fixing College Sports. "The president directed us to work with Congress to fix the problem. Senators Cruz and Cantwell stepped up and showed great leadership in this bill. We applaud and appreciate them. This is a great first step to solving the chaos and protecting Olympic sports."

The legislation includes NIL protections, athlete-agent rules, NIL disclosure standards, academic and scholarship protections, student-athlete medical coverage, health and safety standards, the establishment of an official student-athlete ombudsman, transfer and eligibility rules, prohibited compensation and cap-evasion provisions, recruitment and tampering rules, legal certainty for covered enforcement, preemption of conflicting state rules, and neutrality on employment status.

The broadcast and media title creates a conditional framework for voluntary pooled media rights, local access to broadcast games, rivalry preservation, women's and Olympic sport protections, anti-consolidation guardrails, and use-it-or-lose-it non-football/non-basketball media rights.

To read a section-by-section, click HERE.

To read the bill text, click HERE.