The U.S. Senate approved the Protect College Sports Act on Thursday, sending the bill to the House for approval.
The act, a bill led by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), revolves around costs to keep college sports growing, and the burden it has become on the institutions.
The vote was approved by a vote of 77-22. Twenty Democrats and two Republicans voted no.
“The NCAA thanks the many senators who sponsored this bill — including Senators Cruz, Cantwell, Schmitt (and Coons) — as well as the many other senators who voted for the bill, for their bipartisan effort to protect this uniquely American tradition of college sports in the decades to come,” the NCAA said in a statement Monday. “Now the bill moves to the U.S. House of Representatives and there is much work left to do to ensure student-athlete benefits are codified into federal law and future generations of young people can access those benefits and use college sports as the launching point for their careers.”
During this latest rise in costs the past few years, many NCAA Division I schools have shuttered some of their programs, including swimming for Michigan State, the Iowa men, Eastern Michigan and more. According to the report, more than 100 women’s and Olympic (non-revenue) programs have been cut nationwide in the past three years.
The bill also seeks to implement a one-time transfer rule and also address age-based eligibility matters.
The dissenting voters cited specific things missing or changes needed to make the overall bill the best thing for college athletes.
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, a former college football player, said while there are “good things in this bill worthy of trumpeting,” some major athlete groups haven’t backed the bill, saying that they know the Protect College Sports Act “undermines their rights, undermines their collective bargaining, undermines their health and safety, creates an unequal playing field for them relative to the other monied interests in this bill, including the coaches.
“The reality is, (athletes) don’t need Congress’ beneficent actions to give them NIL rights, they’ve earned them in the courts. What this bill actually does is it takes away rights for them to legally challenge anything that the cartel of the NCAA does. That’s why the AAJ, the trial lawyers, are against this, because it undermines their ability to win more court cases in the future.”
The report by Cantwell cited July 2026 Government Accountability Office data that stated “94% of all (NCAA) Division I athletics programs now spend more than they generated in athletics revenue in academic year 2023-24, resulting in campus deficits that must be covered through institutional subsidies, student fees, public support or resources that could otherwise strengthen the academic mission.”
Meanwhile, NCAA participation in the sports that have continued is continuing to rise. The report cited financial records that reflected a “322% increase” in recruiting costs in the 18-year span from 2005-2023, leading to the formation of the Protect College Sports Act.