A bipartisan bill aimed at reshaping college athletics cleared the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday in a 19-9 vote, a significant milestone that puts the measure on track for a possible full Senate vote before lawmakers leave for the August recess.
The legislation, known as the Protect College Sports Act, is the furthest any college sports reform proposal has advanced in the Senate. Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, drafted the bill alongside Sens. Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Chris Coons of Delaware. The group has been working to move the measure quickly, with hopes of getting it to President Donald Trump’s desk this summer.
Trump publicly called on Congress in early June to pass the bill “this summer,” while Cruz has said he wants the legislation approved before the start of the fall sports season.
Following Thursday’s committee vote, Cruz told reporters that Senate Majority Leader John Thune plans to bring the bill to the Senate floor. Cruz said he expects that vote to happen in July, according to Yahoo Sports. That would leave lawmakers a tight timeline, as the Senate is scheduled to begin its summer recess on Aug. 10 and return Sept. 11. Any final passage would require 60 votes.
The bill would create the first broad federal framework governing college athletics. Among its key provisions, it would formally protect athletes’ name, image and likeness rights under federal law and replace the current patchwork of state rules with a single nationwide standard.
It would also establish a five-year eligibility period starting at age 19 or upon high school graduation, allow athletes to transfer once without losing eligibility, and require those making a second transfer to sit out for a year except in limited circumstances. In addition, the legislation would cap agent fees at 5% and give athletes the right to sue schools over alleged violations involving NIL rights, health and safety rules, and scholarship protections.
The biggest revenue play: an amendment to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 that would allow schools to voluntarily pool and jointly negotiate their media rights, similar to the NFL’s model. Proponents say that could generate an additional $4 to $8 billion for college athletics, money backers want directed toward women’s and Olympic sports. The bill also bans the formation of a super conference, effectively blocking any potential SEC-Big Ten breakaway league.
More than 20 conferences, including the ACC and the Big 12, representing 228 colleges across 46 states, have publicly backed the legislation, along with the NFL, NFLPA, NBPA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
“Today’s vote is a powerful statement to the growing bipartisan support for targeted intervention from Congress to stabilize college sports’ transfer, eligibility and agent rules,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement. “The NCAA looks forward to building on this important development to pass the most effective bill for all 550,000 student-athletes.”
Big Ten, SEC still not on board
The two most powerful conferences in college football remain opposed. In a joint statement released Thursday morning, the Big Ten and SEC said that despite “sustained engagement and good faith efforts,” their critical revisions to the bill had not been accepted.
“From the outset, we identified a set of essential revisions to the PCSA necessary for the long-term sustainability of college athletics,” the statement read. “We have worked with both majority and minority staff to advance those revisions, which focus on better supporting student-athletes and stabilizing the college sports environment. We continue to believe revisions are needed to secure our support for the bill.”
The conferences said they are “encouraged that several Commerce Committee members share our concerns” and pledged to keep pushing for changes.
Their core objections center on the media-pooling provision, which SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has warned could expose the SEC to lawsuits and effectively force the conference out of the College Football Playoff if non-pooling schools are excluded from postseason play. The Big Ten holds a major deal with CBS and FOX; the SEC is locked into an exclusive agreement with ESPN. The private right of action provision — which both conferences called too broad — also remained intact in the final markup version.
On a teleconference with reporters, New York Yankees president Randy Levine, a leader on President Trump’s college sports committee, urged opponents of the bill to “come back into the tent with us and the Senate to work through all of the problems you have because this is the last, best effort. If this does not go forward, there will be nothing that goes forward …”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a former college football coach who spent 14 seasons in the SEC at Ole Miss and Auburn, went to the Senate floor Tuesday to announce his opposition.
“Two weeks ago, my colleagues here rolled out a bipartisan bill that aims to fix some of these problems,” Tuberville said. “I respect the work that they put into it. I know it all too well. I know they’re trying to solve a serious and very, very hard problem. It’s almost impossible. But I think their bill goes too far.
“Trust me, if I thought it’d work, I’d support it. Unfortunately, it gets too deep into the businesses of universities, conferences and athletics departments while doing far too little to give the student-athlete the stability and clarity that, actually, they need.”
What the amendments changed
The most significant revision ahead of Thursday’s markup strengthened protections for non-revenue and Olympic sports. Under the amended bill, any Division I school reporting at least $80 million in annual athletic revenue must maintain current scholarship and roster levels for women’s and Olympic sports at or above the 2024-25 levels. The earlier version applied that requirement only to schools that opted into media rights pooling; the amendment extends it to all large-revenue programs regardless of whether they opted in.
Senators also pushed for language restricting mid-season coaching changes, a debate sparked in part by Lane Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU while the Rebels were still alive in last season’s College Football Playoff.
The bill now faces its biggest test. A Senate floor vote requires 60 votes in a chamber with 53 Republicans, making bipartisan support essential.
