Overview
- President Donald Trump publicly backed the Protect College Sports Act on Thursday and urged Congress to pass the bill this summer so he can sign it into law.
- The Senate measure would give the NCAA and a new College Sports Commission narrow antitrust protection to enforce rules on transfers, eligibility and athlete compensation while creating an agent registry, capping agent endorsement fees at 5 percent, and adding an independent Athlete Ombudsman.
- The bill would let schools and conferences voluntarily pool FBS media rights into a covered entity that gains an antitrust exemption if 75 percent of FBS programs join and ties pooled-revenue participation to maintaining 2024–25 levels for women’s and Olympic sports.
- Supporters that include the Big 12, ACC, Pac-12, some university officials and coach Nick Saban say the bill would rein in an NIL and transfer 'arms race,' while the SEC, Big Ten, athlete-advocacy groups and the Congressional Black Caucus oppose the bill as drafted.
- The measure is pending before the Senate Commerce Committee with aides eyeing a markup this month, but it leaves unresolved whether student-athletes are employees and faces likely court challenges and the risk of organized athlete resistance if compensation is tightly constrained.