Landmark Bipartisan Bill, “Protect College Sports Act,” Introduced

The NCAA’s long wait for antitrust protection regarding eligibility and transfer rules appears to have reached a breakthrough.

Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) announced a landmark bipartisan college sports bill on Wednesday, the “Protect College Sports Act,” as first reported by Yahoo Sports‘ Ross Dellenger.

According to Dellenger, the new legislation includes a one-time transfer rule, five-year eligibility, a hard salary cap, and optional pooling of media rights, among other things.

Exclusive to @YahooSports: Sens. Ted Cruz & Maria Cantwell detail their groundbreaking legislation:
*1X transfer
*5-yr eligibility/pro player ban
*hard cap
*5% max agent fee
*”Lane Kiffin Rule”
*optional pooling of TV rights
*prohibits “super league”
More-https://t.co/Kva5gesC5l

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 27, 2026

The news comes after the SCORE Act collapsed in Congress last week, primarily due to the Congressional Black Caucus’s unanimous announcement of its opposition to the bill.

The new legislation contains many of the same elements as the SCORE Act, outside of the “rigid anti-employment concept,” Dellenger reported previously. On Wednesday, he wrote that the bill “remains mostly neutral on athlete employment, leaving open as a possibility for athletes to eventually be deemed employees or/and collectively bargain.”

For the NCAA, the Protect College Sports Act most importantly includes limited antitrust protection regarding player eligibility and transfer rules. This would allow the NCAA to write its own rules while shielding the organization from legal challenges over eligibility and transfer disputes.

In addition to establishing national standards for athlete transfers and eligibility rules, it also does so regarding NIL enforcement.

The bill would limit athletes to one penalty-free transfer, move college sports to a five-year eligibility model while restricting former professionals from competing, and provide legal protection for the NCAA and College Sports Commission to enforce rules regarding third-party NIL deals.

It also prohibits the creation of a “super league,” institutes a maximum 5% agent fee, and prohibits coaches from leaving their team before the season ends–the “Lane Kiffin rule.”

Regarding Olympic sports, the bill requires schools to maintain scholarship and roster levels for Olympic sports “based on a three-year period of funding,” though that concept is only triggered if a school opts into pooling its media rights.

“This bipartisan bill is designed to save the part of college sports that fans actually care about,” Cruz told Yahoo Sports, announcing the legislation.

Cantwell told Yahoo Sports that the bill provides “historic protections” for athletes by implementing a national standard for NIL compensation by preempting state laws.

Those athlete protections include scholarship guarantees and medical care.

One of the most notable aspects of the bill is the implementation of a hard salary cap, which comes in response to some programs circumventing the $20.5 million revenue-sharing cap last season through corporate sponsors structured as third-party NIL deals.

According to Yahoo Sports, some football rosters expanded to $30 million last season, and some basketball rosters to $15 million, due to the cap circumvention.

The bill would give the College Sports Commission a clear pathway to enforce the salary cap rules without the threat of legal pushback. However, Cantwell said the legislation includes language that allows the conferences to increase the salary cap.

“The cap can float,” Cantwell told Yahoo Sports. “In case the parties go back to the table (to raise the cap) — there’s dialogue about this — we want athletes to know that there is a mechanism of getting a higher percentage of the revenue share.”

“I am ensuring athlete rights with a private right of action for NIL compensation and revenue sharing. That doesn’t exist right now,” she said. “And do I think this discussion about collective bargaining is over? No.”

In the Senate, the bill will need 60 votes in order to be adopted into legislation.

“Congress is hungry for any bipartisan legislation. I know America is for sure,” Cantwell said, according to Yahoo Sports.

The next steps include a lengthy process of “committee fights, floor arguments and external pressures, both from entities who want to see it thrive and fail,” Dellenger said.