S. 4668
Protect College Sports Act of 2026
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
II Sports broadcasting
(a) In general. Section 1 of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 (15 U.S.C. 1291) is amended—
(1) by striking That the and inserting the following:
1. Exemption of certain agreements from antitrust laws
(a) Professional sports. The
; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
(b) College sports. The antitrust laws, as defined in subsection (a), shall not apply to any joint agreement, by or among institutions engaging in or conducting organized intercollegiate sports, or conferences that have such institutions as members, to form and operate a covered entity that complies with and enforces the requirements of section 5 and sells or otherwise transfers to a third party all or any part of the rights of the institutions or conferences in the sponsored telecasting of the intercollegiate athletic competitions engaged in or conducted by the institutions or conferences.
(b) Technical and conforming amendments. The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 is amended—
(1) in section 2 (15 U.S.C. 1292)—
(A) by striking Section 1 and inserting Section 1(a); and
(B) by striking in section 1 and inserting in section 1(a);
(2) in section 3 (15 U.S.C. 1293), by striking section 1 each place it appears and inserting section 1(a); and
(3) in section 4 (15 U.S.C. 1294), by striking section 1 and inserting section 1(a).
III HBCU Sports Media and Connectivity Program