S. 4668
Protect College Sports Act of 2026
In plain English: what this bill does
The Protect College Sports Act of 2026 would set national rules for college athletes' name, image, and likeness (NIL) payments, athlete welfare, college sports broadcasting, and HBCU media infrastructure. It would bar schools and groups from blocking athletes from earning money from their own name or image, require athletes and schools to report certain payments and deals, and cap school revenue-sharing with athletes at a set amount, with a temporary retention fund above that cap. It would also add health, safety, academic and transfer protections, let athletes sue for certain violations, give antitrust protection to many college sports rules, allow a joint TV-rights sales entity for college sports, and create a $180 million yearly grant program for HBCU broadcast and broadband upgrades.
Who this affects
- **Student athletes (current and prospective)**: may earn money from their name, image and likeness, must report deals over $600 to their school and athletic association, and gain new health, transfer, academic and grant-in-aid protections.
- **Schools (mainly NCAA Division I)**: may pay athletes for name, image and likeness within the revenue share cap, must file yearly reports on athlete payments and program finances, must provide medical coverage and health and safety measures, and must keep women's and Olympic sports at 2024–2025 levels.
- **Intercollegiate athletic associations and conferences**: must run an agent registry and a searchable fair-market-value database, set up an Office of the Student Athlete Ombudsman, reserve at least one-third of governing board seats for current or recent student athletes, and enforce the new rules.
- **Athlete agents**: must register with a state, certify compliance with association rules, may not charge fees above 5 percent of an endorsement deal, and may be decertified for violations.
Words to know
- **Revenue share cap**: the limit on how much a school may pay athletes directly, set by a court settlement and continued under this bill unless Congress acts.
- **Retention fund**: an extra amount a school may pay above the cap to keep athletes who have finished at least one season there.
- **Collective**: a group, such as a booster organization, that gives money to or for athletes or a school's athletic program.
- **Antitrust laws**: federal and state laws against business practices that limit competition, such as agreements to fix prices.
For example
Made-up numbers: A school's revenue share cap is $10,000,000 for the year, and it wants to pay $2,000,000 above that to keep a player through the retention fund. The bill allows up to $22,500,000 above the cap, so the school may pay the extra $2,000,000 because $2,000,000 is less than $22,500,000.
- Step one: Check the cap room: $10,000,000 + $2,000,000 = $12,000,000 in total.
- Step two: Compare the extra amount to the limit: $2,000,000 is less than $22,500,000.
- Step three: The payment is allowed under the retention fund for that year.
Written by AI from the bill's text below; it can be wrong. How it's written
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Protect College Sports Act of 2026
This bill establishes requirements for name, image, or likeness (NIL) agreements for college student athletes and provides a limited antitrust exemption for schools and conferences to pool and sell certain college sports media rights. The requirements address elements of the court-approved agreement to settle In re College Athlete NIL Litigation (i.e., House settlement).
First, the bill statutorily prohibits institutions, conferences, or interstate intercollegiate athletic associations (e.g., the National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA]) from restricting student athletes from entering NIL agreements (subject to specified limitations). Students must report to their institution NIL compensation greater than $600.
The bill requires agents to register with a state and caps agent endorsement contract fees at 5%.
The bill also provides student athletes with one transfer without losing athletic eligibility and restricts football personnel from becoming the head football coach at a different institution during the same season.
Further, the bill prohibits institutions, conferences, or specified entities acting for the benefit of an institution from providing athletes with compensation that circumvents the limit on sharing revenue with student athletes established under the House settlement. The bill also makes the limit permanent and provides for an annual inflation adjustment.
The bill generally prohibits Division I conferences from reducing the number of varsity or Olympic sports teams that a member institution must sponsor. Specifically, large institutions ($80 million or more in annual athletics revenue) must offer and maintain at least as many grant-in-aid opportunities and roster spots for sports that do not generate positive net revenue as the institution provided during academic year 2024-25. The bill provides for a waiver of this requirement under certain circumstances of financial hardship and the requirements expire nine years after the enactment of the bill.
Additionally, the bill establishes (subject to specified conditions) a limited antitrust exemption for institutions or conferences that form joint agreements to transfer their sports telecasting rights to a third party. Such an agreement requires participation from at least 75% of the institutions in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Text of the bill
I Protections of student athletes and fair competition
Where this section came from
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Jun 2, 2026 · Introduced in Senate Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Jun 2
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Sep 28, 2026 · Engrossed in Senate S.Amdt. 6779: To improve the bill. Official page › S.Amdt. 6777: To improve the bill. Official page › S.Amdt. 6776: In the nature of a substitute. Official page › S.Amdt. 6831: To modify the prohibition on certain conference mergers and acquisitions. Official page › S.Amdt. 6830: To require the disclosure of foreign financing of intercollegiate athletics. Official page › S.Amdt. 6828: To modify the provision relating to the relationship of this Act to existing law. Official page › On Cloture on the Motion to Proceed — Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Agreed to, 74–24 · Roll Call 235On the Motion to Proceed — Motion to Proceed Agreed to, 77–22 · Roll Call 236On the Cloture Motion — Cloture Motion Agreed to, 70–21 · Roll Call 240On the Amendment — Amendment Agreed to, 77–23 · Roll Call 242On the Cloture Motion — Cloture Motion Agreed to, 74–25 · Roll Call 243On the Amendment — Amendment Agreed to, 96–1 · Roll Call 245On the Amendment — Amendment Rejected, 1–94 · Roll Call 246On the Amendment — Amendment Rejected, 42–54 · Roll Call 247On the Amendment — Amendment Rejected, 49–50 · Roll Call 248On the Amendment — Amendment Rejected, 47–52 · Roll Call 249On Passage of the Bill — Bill Passed, 77–22 · Roll Call 250
… 5 unchanged passages …
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(a) In general. No State or political subdivision of a State may adopt, maintain, enforce, or continue in effect any law, regulation, rule, requirement, or standard that—
(1) conflicts with any provision of this title that would prevent compliance with this title; or
(2) governs, regulates, or invalidates policies or rules of an institution, a conference, or an intercollegiate athletic association that regulates—
(A) the compensation to a student athlete or prospective student athlete for the use of their name, image, or likeness, except as necessary to comply with this title;
(B) transfers of student athletes between institutions; or
(C) any provision described in subsection (a)(1)-(3) or (b) of section 113 relating to the eligibility of a student athlete to participate in intercollegiate athletics.
(b) Preservation of state laws. The following State laws, rules, regulations, or requirements, or common law rights or remedies shall not be preempted, displaced, or supplanted:
(1) Except to the extent that such law, rule, regulation, requirement, or common law right or remedy conflicts with subsection (a), the following:
(A) Uniform Athlete Agent Acts.
(B) Civil rights laws.
(C) Tort law, unless otherwise specified in paragraph (2).
(D) Criminal law, unless otherwise specified in paragraph (2).
(E) Laws that relate to privacy or data breach.
(F) Contract law.
(G) Trademark law.
(H) Copyright law.
(I) Consumer protection law, unless otherwise specified in paragraph (2).
(2) Except to the extent that such law, rule, regulation, or requirement, or common law right or remedy conflicts with subsection (a)(2), any law, rule, regulation, or requirement, or common law right or remedy, whether statutory or common law, that gives rise to a cause of action for the following:
(A) Personal injury, including psychological injury.
(B) Wrongful death.
(C) Property damage.
(D) Sexual assault.
(E) Harassment.
(F) Fraud.
(G) Injury resulting from abuse or hazing of a student athlete, including physical or sexual abuse.
(H) Injury resulting from deficient student or campus safety measures.
(I) Injury resulting from a failure to provide greater protections to student athletes than those provided by the health, wellness, and safety standards under subsections (a)(1)-(4) or (b)(1)-(2) of section 107.
(J) Any related cause of action that is derivative of any of subparagraphs (A) through (I).
(c) Rule of construction. To the extent liability for violations of the antitrust laws is not limited by this title, subsection (a) shall not be construed to preempt, displace, or supplant the antitrust laws.
II Sports broadcasting
III HBCU Sports Media and Connectivity Program