Senate Pushes College Sports Overhaul as Other Priorities Stall

The Senate has moved closer to passing legislation that would reshape how college sports are governed and financed, even as Congress remains deadlocked on major issues such as annual spending, defense, cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence.

Lawmakers voted twice this week to advance the bill, which now has the backing of more than 70 senators. Final votes could take place as soon as next week, though the measure would still need approval in the House.

Supporters say the legislation is needed to bring order to what they describe as a chaotic environment in college athletics, where spending has surged and legal disputes have multiplied. The bill would cap the revenue that colleges can share with players, create a retention pool to keep current athletes, and allow conferences to pool television media rights to generate more money. It would also restrict player transfers, codify the NCAA's rule limiting eligibility to five years, cap agent fees and grant the NCAA limited antitrust protections.

The push comes amid concerns over name-image-likeness payments, which allow athletes to earn money from endorsements, social media and public appearances. Those payments have contributed to football rosters with payrolls reaching $30 million, according to supporters. A report issued earlier this year by Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, found a $519.9 million increase in institutional and government support for athletic programs between 2015 and 2025 among 53 Power Four schools with publicly available data.

Backers argue the bill would help lower college costs, provide new health and labor protections for hundreds of thousands of student athletes, and establish a single set of rules for all colleges. They say the spending guardrails would preserve money for smaller athletic programs, including women's and Olympic sports, and ensure athletes can keep scholarships and receive longer-term healthcare.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said there is "pent-up demand" to fix college sports, adding that it is "clearly broken" and that no other party is likely to address it. The bill's top sponsors, Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz and Cantwell, secured a commitment from Thune this summer to hold a vote in September.

Not everyone is on board. Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida said Congress should focus on affordability issues before lawmakers leave to campaign, arguing the bill goes "way too far inserting the federal government into collegiate athletics" and could create new problems. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said the Senate should concentrate on other matters "when we are in the middle of a disastrous war and a growing cost crisis," calling the college sports legislation a "fake crisis" that does not do enough to protect athletes.

All four Black Democrats in the Senate — Cory Booker, Raphael Warnock, Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks — voted against the bill. Booker said it gives too much power to the NCAA without sufficient accountability for players, pointing to what he called a long record of ignoring calls for justice from exploited college athletes. Labor and civil rights groups also oppose the measure.

Senators were still making last-minute changes on Friday, adjusting a provision that would reduce the wait time for schools seeking to change conferences and adding language clarifying that the bill does not override existing laws on transgender girls and women in sports.

Despite the objections, several Democrats support the effort. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said college sports is a uniquely American cultural institution and that passing the bill should give Americans "some hope that we can at least stabilize college sports," adding that progress on the issue is long overdue.