College Sports Bill Clears Senate Committee, Faces SEC and Big Ten Wall on Floor

Congress may finally be serious about college sports reform, or it may just be serious about looking serious. The difference matters, because the Protect College Sports Act of 2026 is now on the Senate floor with a narrowing window and two loaded guns pointed at it from the SEC and the Big Ten.

The bill cleared the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday by a 19-9 bipartisan vote, according to a statement from the committee, marking the first time a college sports reform bill has gotten this far in the Senate. Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) co-wrote the legislation with Sens. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), which tells you they at least got the right people in the room.

What the bill actually does is sweeping. As reported by CBS Sports, it would establish the first comprehensive federal framework for college athletics, codifying NIL rights into law and replacing the current state-by-state patchwork with a single national standard. It sets a five-year eligibility window beginning at age 19 or high school graduation, guarantees one free transfer without sitting out, limits agent fees to 5 percent, and gives athletes a private right of action to sue their schools over NIL rights, health standards and scholarships.

There's also a media-pooling provision, borrowed from the NFL, NBA and NHL playbook, that would let schools voluntarily pool and jointly negotiate their broadcast rights. The bill text reviewed by the Senate Commerce Committee spells out that existing contracts are preserved and no school is forced to join. The idea is to funnel money toward non-revenue sports, volleyball, track, wrestling, that are currently watching their programs get cut.

Here's where it gets complicated. The SEC and the Big Ten, per ESPN, issued a joint statement saying revisions are still needed to secure their support. The SEC's specific objection centers on the media-pooling provision: Commissioner Greg Sankey has warned it could expose the conference to lawsuits and potentially push it out of the College Football Playoff if non-pooling schools are barred from postseason play. The Big Ten, locked into a major deal with CBS and Fox, has its own reservations about a provision that could redraw the TV landscape it spent years constructing.

The private right of action clause, which lets athletes sue their own institutions, also survived the committee markup intact, and both conferences called it too broad.

On the other side of the ledger, the coalition behind the bill is not small. According to the committee's own release, 24 collegiate athletic conferences, 267 colleges and universities across 49 states, and the NFL, MLB, the NBA players association, and the NFLPA have all publicly backed the legislation. New York Yankees president Randy Levine, who sits on President Trump's college sports committee, told reporters that opponents should "come back into the tent" because this is the last chance at getting anything through.

Cruz said it plainer. After years of failed attempts, he described the current moment as fourth-down territory. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, according to Yahoo Sports, intends to bring the bill to the floor in July, which gives sponsors a slim run before the August recess begins August 10. They need 60 votes for passage, and they don't have them yet.

The bill deliberately stays quiet on the employee-status question, which is the football on the field that nobody wants to touch. Republicans and most NCAA officials want language that blocks athlete-employee status outright because smaller schools say they can't afford it. The bill, as written, simply doesn't go there.

NCAA president Charlie Baker, in a social media post, said he wants more changes before it becomes law. Former college football coach and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) went to the Senate floor to oppose it, saying it reaches too deep into university business without delivering the stability athletes actually need.

Maybe they're right. Maybe they're protecting their piece. Six years of asking Congress for antitrust protection and getting nothing is a long time. Cruz isn't wrong that if this doesn't move, nothing does. The question now is whether the SEC and Big Ten decide to negotiate or just run out the clock.

Sources cited:
- U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation (Cruz statement) (https://www.commerce.senate.gov/press/rep/release/protect-college-sports-act-heads-to-senate-floor/)
- CBS Sports (https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/protect-college-sports-act-passes-senate-committee-big-ten-sec-opposition/)
- ESPN (https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/49107873/protect-college-sports-act-headed-senate-full-vote)
- U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation (Cantwell-Cruz bill introduction) (https://www.commerce.senate.gov/press/dem/release/cantwell-cruz-schmitt-coons-release-bipartisan-bill-to-stabilize-college-sports-protect-athletes-and-expand-revenue-sharing/)
- Section-by-Section Summary, Protect College Sports Act of 2026 (Senate Commerce Committee) (https://www.commerce.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Section-by-Section_Protect-College-Sports-Act.pdf)