Ethan is a staff writer and assistant editor for Deseret Magazine.
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Until Friday, leaders of the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten had refused to lend their support to the Protect College Sports Act — legislation that would guarantee some stability after many years of chaos for the NCAA
But after weeks of intense negotiation, including an intervention from President Donald Trump, the two biggest leagues in college sports finally came around
Getting there required major concessions from lawmakers, but those concessions won’t impact the elements of the bill most important to — and popular among — fans of college sports. They will alter how schools pay players in a major way, at least as currently written; negotiations over specific language remain ongoing
All of it could still amount to nothing, however, if the legislation doesn’t pass. And time is running out fast
Origins of the legislation
Back in early June, Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, introduced the Protect College Sports Act to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; it quickly became a bipartisan cause célèbre
- Grant the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption so it can enforce its rules without getting sued.
- Restrict schools’ ability to drop women’s and Olympic sports, including scholarship guarantees for athletes.
- Limit athletes to one penalty-free transfer, with subsequent transfers requiring a year of sitting out.
- Cap NCAA eligibility at five years.
- Ban former pro athletes from reentering NCAA competition.
- Tighten NIL regulations to prevent sham deals above market value while also ensuring athletes have a right to earn NIL.
- Codify the revenue-sharing cap established by the House settlement, with annual inflation adjustments.
- Forbid schools from hiring a head coach from another school during the season (the “Lane Kiffin Rule”).
- Prohibit conferences with annual revenue over $700 million from expanding.
- Allow schools to voluntarily pool and sell their broadcasting rights — though only if 75% of Division I FBS schools choose to opt in.
What’s new?
Following revisions, rules regarding one-time penalty-free transfers, conference expansion, the five-year eligibility cap, the ban on pro athletes returning to college and the so-called “Lane Kiffin Rule” remain intact
The media rights pooling provision also remains, with new language to clarify that it is purely voluntary, and schools/conferences cannot be forced into pooling through the courts, even if the 75% threshold is reached
The biggest change relates to the revenue sharing cap, which was first established by the House settlement in 2025. That settlement established that schools could pay athletes up to 22% of average power conference athletic department revenue at the time of the decision, with adjustments for inflation. All of which is a long and complicated way of saying that this year, schools are allowed to pay athletes a total of $21.3 million directly. The schools are allowed to allocate that money however they see fit.
But under a revised version of the bill, schools would alsobe granted a player retention cap on top of the House settlement cap, with Yahoo Sports reporting it to be worth $22.5 million. Another $5 million allocation for women’s and nonrevenue generating sports brings the new college sports revenue sharing cap to $48.8 million
The exact numbers could still change, but they’re likely to remain in that ballpark, which reflects the current market rate for a top-shelf college athletic department. This was a major sticking point in negotiations with conferences, which feared a cap that could be easily violated by sham NIL deals
For that reason, the revised bill also tightens language around NIL deals through “associated entities” like apparel manufacturers or media conglomerates who wish to partner with universities and individual athletes. Those companies will have to undergo a formal “attestation process” to work with athletes to ensure their NIL deals are genuine, and not a salary cap workaround. Athletes will still be free, however, to ink NIL deals with nonaffiliated sponsors, which will not count against the revenue-sharing cap. Striking that balance was essential to lawmakers.
“We are not going to establish one cap for schools that follow the rules and a second, effectively unlimited system for programs capable of routing compensation through affiliates, collectives, or booster-funded entities,” one Senate staffer wrote in an email to conference commissioners obtained by Politico. “We are also not going to pass a law that denies student athletes from inking real, third-party commercial (name, image and likeness) opportunities.”
All in all, reporting from USA Today last week suggested a total of 12 concessions to SEC and Big Ten preferences, including eight “full” concessions to league demands
Critically, the new bill — like the old — still includes a limited antitrust exemption and a preemption of existing state laws. But SEC and Big Ten leaders had expressed frustration in recent weeks about those provisions not going far enough to stave off a mountain of new lawsuits, and it’s unclear at this point whether those concerns were addressed in the version those conferences finally agreed to support
What happens next?
The Senate will break for a scheduled monthlong recess on Aug. 7, with midterm elections looming when it reconvenes on Sept. 14. After the holdout conferences agreed to offer their support on Friday, optimism grew that the Protect College Sports Act could be scheduled for a vote before the recess
However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Roll Call on Monday that nothing is imminent. He did have conversations about it over the weekend, he explained, and described the cause as “probably trending in the right direction.” But he’s juggling many priorities before the recess, and right now, the Protect College Sports Act isn’t at the top of the list
“Can we produce a big vote for it on the floor? Can we get it in the queue somehow? I mean, these are all, these are some unanswered questions,” Thune said. “But the things we do have to do … we’ll start there and start stacking it, and see where it goes.”
The bill also still needs to pass the House before reaching the president’s desk, meaning the final signing and implementation could still be months away. Thus far, the bill’s bipartisan nature hasn’t wavered; as recently as Thursday, Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat, told Politico, “I think it’s a lot closer than what people think. From my point of view, there’s been an awful lot of movement in the most important aspects.”
Yet the longer the bill drags toward the midterms, the more politically complicated it becomes, with Democrats less likely to give Trump and Republicans a perceived legislative victory. Meaning the fate of the Protect College Sports Act could come down to a contest between partisan loyalties and common sense
