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Protect College Athletes and Media Rights

Full Title:
Protect College Sports Act of 2026

Summary#

This bill, the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, sets new federal rules for college athletics. It protects student athletes’ rights to earn from their name, image, and likeness (NIL), adds health and academic protections, changes agent and endorsement rules, and creates new limits and rules for media rights and broadcasting. The broad goal is to protect athletes and promote “fair competition” among colleges while letting schools and associations coordinate some rules and pooled media deals under specified conditions.

Key changes:

  • Protects student athletes’ ability to sign NIL deals and prohibits schools from denying eligibility or cutting grants-in-aid because of NIL activity (with some limited exceptions).
  • Requires Division I student athletes to report NIL deals and payments over $600 to their institution; institutions must report anonymized NIL data to their athletic association, which must build a public NIL-value database.
  • Strengthens agent and endorsement rules: agents must be state-registered, fees generally capped at 5% for endorsement contracts, written contract standards are required, and a public registry of agents is required.
  • New health and safety and medical coverage rules: institutions must cover out-of-pocket medical costs for sport injuries while competing and for five years after, provide catastrophic coverage triggers, adopt specified safety practices, and create an independent athletic health and safety officer; intercollegiate associations must maintain at least $60 million for a post-eligibility medical fund/program.
  • New private rights of action and whistleblower protections; pre-dispute arbitration and certain waivers with student athletes are invalid for claims under the Act.
  • Title II changes the Sports Broadcasting Act to allow institutions or conferences to form a “covered entity” that pools and sells media rights with an antitrust exemption if it meets membership, voting, revenue-allocation, and other rules; it also requires market-level local broadcast access for football and basketball and places limits on certain large conference mergers.

What it means for you#

  • Student athletes

    • You may freely market your name, image, and likeness and sign NIL deals without losing eligibility or grant-in-aid (except in limited cases like violating general student conduct rules or using school logos without consent).
    • If you are in Division I, you must report NIL agreements or payments over $600 to your institution within 30 days. Institutions will include anonymized NIL data in an association database intended to estimate fair market value.
    • You gain stronger medical protections: institutions must pay out-of-pocket medical costs for injuries from sport while you compete and for five years after your last competition. Catastrophic coverage and an end-of-college physical are also required.
    • You get access to an independent Office of the Student Athlete Ombudsman for advice and dispute help. Whistleblower protections and limits on mandatory arbitration apply for many disputes.
    • Transfer rules: you may transfer once without losing eligibility. A second transfer generally triggers a one-year loss of eligibility unless certain exceptions apply (coach departure, program discontinued, sexual assault/harassment, or graduate study).
    • Boards of national athletic associations or similar governing boards must include at least one-third current or recent student athletes or former athletes (subject to some exclusions).

  • Institutions, conferences, and intercollegiate athletic associations

    • Must publish and submit annual anonymized NIL and financial/student-outcome reports to their association; must adopt health and safety standards, create an athletic health and safety officer position, and fund or participate in a post-eligibility medical fund/program.
    • May pay athletes for NIL and must follow new limits intended to prevent circumvention of a defined “revenue share cap.” NIL deals with institutions must be for a “valid business purpose” and fairly priced.
    • Must support an ombudsman office run by the intercollegiate association and comply with new reporting, privacy, and data-handling rules.
    • If institutions join a pooled “covered entity” for media rights, they must follow the bill’s membership, voting, revenue distribution, and contribution rules (including required transfers to the medical fund/program and protections for women’s and Olympic sports).

  • Athlete agents

    • Must be registered with a State or otherwise meet specified registration standards before representing student athletes for endorsements. Contracts must be written and include fees and registration info. Agents face decertification by associations for violations.

  • Broadcasters and media rights holders

    • The bill creates a path for large-scale pooling of college media rights with an antitrust exemption if the covered entity meets strict rules (including minimum membership and revenue-allocation formulas). Covered entities must make at least one local outlet option available for college football and basketball matches.
    • Distributors holding rights for non-football/basketball sports must use those rights within one year or risk reversion.

  • Coaches and schools hiring coaches

    • Mid-season moves for head coaches in FBS football are curtailed: coaches who performed football duties for one institution in a season generally cannot perform head-coach duties for another institution in that same season. Violations trigger ineligibility and other penalties.

  • Fans

    • The bill requires local market broadcast options for football and basketball, aimed at ensuring at least one free or locally available outlet for games in a participating school’s area.

What is unclear:

  • How exactly the revenue share cap (tied to a particular legal settlement) will be applied and enforced over time if that settlement changes.
  • The operational details of the covered entity (how many schools will join and how votes will work in practice) and how media-rights pooling will affect individual games’ availability.

Expenses#

No comprehensive federal cost estimate is provided in the bill text or summary.

Known or identifiable costs:

  • Intercollegiate athletic associations must ensure a post-eligibility medical fund/program is funded at a minimum of $60,000,000 at the start of each academic year.
  • Institutions and associations must cover medical out-of-pocket costs during participation and for five years after; institutions may bear direct medical expense costs or seek pooled funding support from associations.
  • Associations must pay for an Office of the Student Athlete Ombudsman (salary, benefits, and admin expenses) and build/maintain a public NIL-value database and agent registry websites.
  • Institutions must prepare and submit annual anonymized NIL, revenue, and student-outcome reports; compliance and IT costs for reporting and privacy protections are likely.
  • The Commission on the Future of College Athletics is authorized “such sums as may be necessary,” split across House and Senate funds — an unspecified federal expense.
  • Potential litigation costs: the bill creates multiple private rights of action and limits pre-dispute arbitration, which could increase legal claims and associated costs for institutions, associations, agents, and others.

Proponents' View#

The bill appears intended to:

  • Protect student athletes’ rights to earn from their own name, image, and likeness, and to prevent schools from punishing athletes for doing so.
  • Improve transparency in NIL markets by requiring reporting and a public database to help estimate fair market value.
  • Strengthen athlete health, safety, and long-term medical protections (covering out-of-pocket costs and catastrophic injuries, and requiring independent medical authority).
  • Reduce abusive recruiting and mid-season coach poaching by setting rules on recruitment windows and prohibiting certain mid-season coaching transitions.
  • Give athletes more voice in governance by requiring athlete representation on governing boards and by creating an independent ombudsman office.
  • Preserve and structure a legal path for pooling and selling media rights (with a conditioned antitrust exemption) while protecting local market access and non-revenue sports.

Opponents' View#

One concern is that the bill may impose large new costs and administrative burdens on institutions and associations, especially smaller schools, without a clear funding plan beyond the $60 million fund requirement.

One concern is that the media-rights pooled “covered entity” and the provided antitrust exemption could centralize control of rights and revenues, potentially reducing competition in media markets and giving large entities strong bargaining power; mandatory contribution of rights as a condition for payments could be controversial.

One concern is that requirements to report NIL deals and include data in a public database, even if anonymized, could raise privacy risks or produce practical compliance challenges.

One concern is the potential for more litigation: the bill creates many private rights of action, limits pre-dispute arbitration, and invalidates certain waivers, which could increase legal exposure for schools, conferences, and agents.

One concern is that some provisions—such as the restriction on compensation that would “circumvent” a defined revenue share cap and the requirement that institution-offered NIL deals be for a “valid business purpose”—are vague and may lead to disputes about what is permitted.

One concern is that limits on mid-season coach transitions and restrictions on certain conference mergers may affect employment mobility and structural decisions by conferences and institutions.