Senate Passes College Sports Bill As It Punts On Tackling AI, National Debt And Flock Before Midterms

The Senate passed legislation Monday to protect college athletes’ name, image and likeness (NIL), which included a limited anti-trust exemption for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), while other pressing issues affecting the nation remained unsolved.

The Protect College Sports Act of 2026 would establish requirements for NIL agreements for college student athletes, prohibit institutions or conferences from restricting athletes from entering NIL agreements and mandate out-of-pocket medical coverage for sports-related injuries at Division I schools; the bill would grant the NCAA, conferences and schools limited immunity from federal antitrust laws to enforce rules on transfers and compensation caps. The Senate passed the bill with no reported plans to address the national debt, AI safety concerns and wide-spread surveillance involving Flock Safety cameras before November’s midterm election.

The legislation would establish a federal NIL right and require students to disclose any NIL compensation worth more than $600 to their institution and prohibit institutions, conferences or entities from providing athletes with compensation that circumvents the limit on revenue sharing with athletes.

Athletic departments with more than $80 million in annual revenue would be prohibited from cutting roster spots, grant-in-aid opportunities, women’s or Olympic sports teams below 2024-25 levels for nine years.

Lobbyists spent at least $31 million lobbying on college athletics, including on the bill, which involved 36 members of the NCAA’s four most powerful conferences and over 60 colleges, according to OpenSecrets.

Colleges such as Notre Dame, Ohio State and Western Michigan University were among those that lobbied heavily for the measure, according to OpenSecrets.

Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell led the effort to advance the bill out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, where they serve as chairman and ranking member. It passed the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster in a 74 to 24 vote on Sept. 15 and passed a second procedural vote Thursday.

Cruz expressed hope that the bill could pass before the midterms so Republicans could campaign on its passage being a victory for the party, according to Semafor. He called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to reconvene the House to pass the bill so it could reach President Donald Trump’s desk.

“I believe the speaker will call the House back and pass this bill, and the House could pass the bill in a day,” Cruz told Semafor Monday. “I believe the speaker will do that, and I urge President Trump to sign the bill on the set of College Game Day at a game this fall. And I believe we will see this bill signed into law before Election Day.”