Protect College Athletes Act

Full Title:
Protect College Sports Act of 2026

Summary#

This bill, the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, would set national rules for student‑athlete name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals, health and safety, transfers, agent conduct, and the sale of college media rights. Its main goals are to protect student athletes’ NIL rights and health, limit certain institution payments tied to revenue caps, and create rules and an antitrust safe harbor for joint media rights deals. It also creates a Congressional commission to study the future of college athletics.

Key changes:

  • NIL rights and reporting: Institutions may not block athletes from earning for their name, image, and likeness. Division I athletes must report NIL deals over $600 to their institution. Associations must build an anonymized NIL‑value database.
  • Agent and contract rules: Athlete agents must register with a State and follow new contract and endorsement form requirements; agents can be decertified by athletic associations.
  • Health and safety: Division I institutions must cover out‑of‑pocket medical costs for sport injuries, provide 5 years of post‑eligibility coverage, offer catastrophic coverage (trigger above $90,000), and follow specified safety protocols. Associations must fund a program with at least $60,000,000.
  • Transfer, eligibility, and scholarship protections: One transfer without penalty; limited second transfer penalty; scholarship reductions are limited and notice/reinstatement rules required. Eligibility rules set a 5‑year competition window with listed exceptions.
  • Governance and oversight: Creates an Office of the Student Athlete Ombudsman, requires at least one‑third of athletic governing boards be current or recent student athletes, and limits mid‑season coaching role changes in FBS football.
  • Media and antitrust: Amends the Sports Broadcasting Act to allow large joint media rights entities (covered entities) for college sports under specified membership, voting, revenue allocation, local broadcast access, and anti‑merger limits. Covered entities get an antitrust safe harbor if they meet the bill’s rules.

What it means for you#

  • Student athletes (Division I and others where specified):

    • May market and earn from their NIL without being declared ineligible by institutions for doing so.
    • Must report NIL deals or payments over $600 to their Division I institution within 30 days.
    • Gain new protections for medical care related to sports injuries during participation and for five years afterward.
    • Have access to an independent student‑athlete ombudsman for advice and dispute help.
    • May transfer once without losing eligibility; a second transfer generally carries a one‑year ineligibility unless specific exceptions apply.
    • Could be members (or former members) with voting rights on governing boards (at least one‑third representation).

  • Institutions and athletic departments:

    • May not condition scholarships or eligibility (with limited exceptions) on athletes’ NIL deals.
    • Must collect and report anonymized NIL data to associations and comply with safety and medical coverage rules (Division I specific in many places).
    • Must designate an athletic health and safety officer who is independent of the athletic department.
    • Face new reporting and transparency duties about revenues, hours, and academic outcomes.
    • Could be subject to fines, restrictions, or other sanctions by intercollegiate athletic associations for noncompliance.

  • Athlete agents and collectives:

    • Must register with a State and follow new certification rules to represent student athletes for endorsements.
    • Are subject to association decertification and federal private right of action for certain misconduct.

  • Conferences and media entities:

    • May form a large joint “covered entity” to sell pooled media rights and get a limited antitrust exemption if they meet strict membership, voting, and revenue distribution rules.
    • Must offer local market broadcast access for football and basketball games.
    • Face limits on large conference mergers for top‑revenue conferences.

  • Broadcasters and local outlets:

    • Covered entities must make at least one local outlet option available (free to viewers in the local market) for college football and basketball contests.
    • Media rights for non‑football/basketball sports must be actively used or can revert to the institution after a one‑year use period plus cure window.

  • Legal and dispute processes:

    • Students and others get private rights of action for many provisions, and pre‑dispute arbitration and joint‑action waivers are generally invalid for these claims.
    • Certain disputes tied to an existing settlement referenced in the bill must follow that settlement’s procedures.

Expenses#

No comprehensive fiscal estimate or fiscal note is included in the available material.

  • The bill requires an intercollegiate athletic association fund or program to be funded at at least $60,000,000 at the start of each academic year to help cover post‑eligibility medical costs and catastrophic conditions.
  • Institutions (Division I in many provisions) must provide medical coverage covering out‑of‑pocket costs during participation and for five years after last competition; the bill sets a catastrophic threshold of $90,000 for insurance but does not estimate total costs to institutions.
  • Intercollegiate athletic associations must hire and pay an Ombudsman and support staff; the bill authorizes “such sums as may be necessary” for the Congressional Commission, half from House and half from Senate accounts.
  • Covered entities must maintain systems for annual revenue allocation, voting, and distributions; institutions and associations must create databases, reporting systems, and an NIL agreement database — all likely to incur administrative, IT, and compliance costs (no dollar estimates provided).
  • The bill imposes new compliance and reporting duties on institutions and associations that could increase staffing, legal, and administrative expenses.
  • No publicly available information about total federal or non‑federal cost estimates is provided in the bill text or metadata.

Proponents' View#

The bill appears intended to address several problems and promote certain goals:

  • Protecting student‑athletes’ ability to market their own name, image, and likeness while preventing institutions from punishing or conditioning scholarships for lawful NIL deals.
  • Increasing transparency of NIL market values by requiring reporting and a publicly searchable, anonymized database to inform fair market compensation.
  • Strengthening medical care and safety for student athletes, including guaranteed coverage for out‑of‑pocket treatment and post‑eligibility care, and setting minimum funding for long‑term care programs.
  • Promoting fairness and accountability by requiring agent registration, clear contract standards, an independent ombudsman, and student representation on governing boards.
  • Preserving competitive balance and public access to games by authorizing a structured joint media rights option with revenue distribution rules, local broadcast access, and protections for women’s and Olympic sports.
  • Studying the long‑term structure of college athletics through a bipartisan commission to recommend future policy changes.

Opponents' View#

The bill raises several practical concerns or trade‑offs based on its design and text:

  • One concern is that the bill does not include a government fiscal estimate, yet it creates substantial new costs for institutions, associations, and a federal commission (medical coverage, $60M fund, ombudsman staffing, databases, and reporting), making budgetary impact unclear.
  • The bill leaves some key terms and standards vague, such as what qualifies as a “valid business purpose,” what is “commensurate” compensation, and how the revenue share cap is measured and enforced. This may lead to disputes and litigation.
  • Granting antitrust exemptions to large joint media rights entities only if strict rules are met could shift market power to large covered entities and affect independent conferences or institutions that decline to join; the effects on competition and consumer prices are not quantified in the bill.
  • The requirement that covered entities include at least 75% of FBS institutions and unanimity for certain revenue decisions may create governance deadlocks or incentivize bargaining that benefits a subset of members.
  • Privacy and identification risks remain despite anonymization requirements. The bill requires institutions to share NIL deal data (even anonymized) and maintain public databases; the effectiveness of the anonymization is not detailed.
  • The bill restricts pre‑dispute arbitration and joint‑action waivers and creates multiple private rights of action. This could increase litigation costs for institutions, associations, and others.
  • Some protections and requirements apply only to Division I institutions, which creates uneven rules across divisions and may leave other student athletes without the same protections.
  • It is unclear how enforcement will work across states, how the bill interacts with existing settlements it references, and how associations will operationalize decertification of agents and other penalties without uniform state registration practices.