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Bipartisan Bill Caps College Sports Spending, Grants Antitrust Exemption

5/28/2026

Summary

Cruz & Cantwell Propose

Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) introduced the Protect College Sports Act.
It gives NCAA antitrust exemption, caps spending at $20 million, and limits athletes to a single transfer and five years.
It bans coach poaching, requires health-insurance and scholarship guarantees, and protects women’s and Olympic athletes.
It allows TV-rights pooling with 75 % of FBS schools, adds $9 billion, and faces a hearing and a 60-vote filibuster hurdle.

Summary

Congress Overhauls

The draft bill allows universities to pay athletes directly after the House v. NCAA settlement finalized last June.
The SCORE Act’s anti-employment provision was removed because it caused the act’s collapse.
An agent registry system is added to oversee athlete representation, a feature missing from earlier reforms.
The bill’s release coincides with the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, prompting analysts to call it a landmark for college-sports regulation.

Summary

White Warns

The bill mandates annual games for rivalries like Bedlam, Border War, Apple Cup, and Oregon-Oregon State.
Tennessee AD Danny White says a collective bargaining agreement matters more than playoffs.
White warns that without the act many programs and rivalries could disappear, eroding ties.
The proposal does not label athletes as employees, bars former pros, forbids coach poaching, and, according to Senators Cruz and Cantwell, will stop a League consolidation by 2030.

Summary

Cruz, Cantwell Bill

The bill caps earnings of college sports league at $1 billion annually, targeting the SEC and Big Ten.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) says the bill can raise athletes’ revenue share if the cap rises and targets NIL and booster payments.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) argues the $1 billion ceiling blocks a super league, calls legal protections targeted, allows the $21.3 million cap to rise, and notes senators are lobbying to co-sponsor before House passage.

History

Historical Context

The 1984 Supreme Court ruling in NCAA v. Board of Regents freed schools to sell TV rights, raising televised games from 89 to nearly 200 the next season. That market liberalization later enabled multi-billion-dollar deals such as CBS and Fox contracts. Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell’s Protect College Sports Act, proposing a $9 billion rights pool, builds on that same antitrust-driven shift.

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Cruz & Cantwell Propose

Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) introduced the Protect College Sports Act.
It gives NCAA antitrust exemption, caps spending at $20 million, and limits athletes to a single transfer and five years.
It bans coach poaching, requires health-insurance and scholarship guarantees, and protects women’s and Olympic athletes.
It allows TV-rights pooling with 75 % of FBS schools, adds $9 billion, and faces a hearing and a 60-vote filibuster hurdle.

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