Protect College Sports Act of 2026

Key Points

• The bill creates a national framework for college athletes to earn money from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Schools, conferences, and athletic associations cannot punish athletes for signing endorsement deals or restrict their eligibility based on NIL income. A public database would let athletes estimate fair market value for deals.
• Division I schools must cover all out-of-pocket medical expenses for sports injuries during participation and for five years after a player's last competition. Athletic associations must create a medical fund of at least $60 million per year to help with long-term conditions like CTE.
• Athletes can transfer once without sitting out, and get additional free transfers if their coach leaves, their sport is cut, or they experienced sexual assault. Strict anti-tampering rules limit when schools and agents can contact athletes at other schools to a five-week window.
• The bill creates a new covered entity to pool and sell TV rights for college sports, with an antitrust exemption. It requires local free broadcasts of football and basketball games, preserves traditional rivalries when teams switch conferences, and bans mega-conference mergers for conferences with over $1 billion in revenue.
• A new Office of the Student Athlete Ombudsman would give athletes free, confidential advice on their rights and help resolve disputes. Whistleblower protections prevent schools from retaliating against athletes, employees, or others who report violations.
• At least one-third of the seats on athletic association governing boards must be held by current or former student athletes. A 20-member congressional commission would study the future of college athletics, including whether athletes should be considered employees, and report back within five years.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.