Senate Passes Protect College Sports Act 77-22 in Bipartisan Vote
The bill's passage marks the furthest Congress has advanced toward setting uniform federal standards for athlete compensation and transfer rules, though the House has not yet acted.
The United States Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act on Monday, September 28, 2026, by a vote of 77 to 22, according to reporting by the New York Post. The margin makes it one of the more broadly supported pieces of sports-related federal legislation to clear a full chamber in recent memory.
The legislation grants the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its member institutions a limited antitrust exemption. That exemption would allow the NCAA and member schools to establish and enforce rules governing athlete eligibility and transfers without being subject to antitrust litigation that has, in several recent federal court cases, challenged the organization's authority to restrict athlete compensation.
The bill's supporters framed the antitrust carveout as a necessary tool for creating uniform national standards. Without federal preemption, college athletics operate under a patchwork of state laws on name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation, a situation that has drawn complaints from athletic directors, conference commissioners, and some athletes themselves about uneven competitive conditions across states.
The 77-22 vote reflects support from both Republican and Democratic senators, though the specific breakdown of which senators voted in favor and which voted against was not detailed in the available source material. The full roll call vote is a public congressional record and would be available through the Senate's official voting records.
The bill also addresses athlete protections beyond antitrust, according to the New York Post report, though the precise provisions governing minimum compensation thresholds, transfer portal procedures, or athlete health and safety requirements were not fully detailed in the available source material. The complete text of the enrolled bill, including all provisions, is a public document available through Congress.gov.
The legislation arrives after years of court-driven changes to college athletics. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in NCAA v. Alston (2021) that certain NCAA restrictions on education-related benefits violated antitrust law. That decision opened the door to subsequent NIL rules changes and further legal challenges to NCAA authority. A federal antitrust exemption, if enacted, would substantially alter the legal landscape established by that line of cases.
A central question the bill raises is the scope of the antitrust exemption and whether it would foreclose athlete antitrust claims more broadly. Legal scholars and athlete advocacy groups have raised concerns that a broad exemption could limit athletes' ability to challenge compensation caps or transfer restrictions in court. What specific guardrails, if any, the bill places on the NCAA's use of the exemption is not fully clear from the available source material. The bill text on Congress.gov would resolve that question.
The House of Representatives has not yet voted on companion legislation as of the date of this publication. Whether House leadership will schedule the bill for a floor vote, and what modifications a House version might include, is not known. A House companion bill number, if one exists, would be available through the House legislative tracking system.
The bill's passage also comes against a backdrop of ongoing litigation involving college athlete employment status. The National Labor Relations Board has, in prior proceedings, examined whether college athletes at certain institutions qualify as employees under federal labor law. Whether the Protect College Sports Act would affect those proceedings is not addressed in the available source material. The NLRB's public docket would contain relevant filings.
For additional background on the legislation's Senate passage, see the earlier TCT report: Senate Passes Federal Bill to Regulate College Athletics Nationwide.
What remains unknown is the full list of provisions included in the enrolled Senate bill, the breakdown of the 77-22 vote by party and senator, and whether the House will take up the measure before the end of the current congressional session. The Senate roll call record, the enrolled bill text on Congress.gov, and House scheduling announcements from the Speaker's office would answer each of those questions.