The U.S. Senate voted decisively, by a 77-22 margin on Monday night to pass the Protect College Sports Act, a sweeping piece of legislation pushed by President Donald Trump and designed to rein in a college sports scene that most agree has spun out of control in recent years.
But Georgia’s two Democratic U.S. senators were split in their votes for the bill, with U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff voting in favor and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock against.
The bill seeks to grant the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption, allowing it to enforce rules like limiting athletes to five years of eligibility, codifying the regulation of name, image and likeness deals, protecting non-revenue sports and capping the size of conferences.
If you’re a college football buff looking for some specifics:
- Athletes would receive federal protections for scholarships, healthcare and NIL rights.
- Five years of eligibility becomes the national standard for athletes.
- Athletes are allowed one free transfer during their careers; any additional transfers require them to sit out for a season.
- Coaches would be restricted from leaving for another coaching job mid-season.
Spending in college sports – most specifically college football – has exploded over the past five years, with athletes granted unlimited transfers, six+ years of eligibility, and even seeing some come back from professional sports to college. The NCAA’s authority to rein in that madness has been gutted by court cases, and the organization begged Congress for help in passing a law that would restore some of its power and stabilize a college sports landscape that was quickly spiraling out of control, unable to even enforce its own rules.
This bill would do just that, garnering broad bipartisan support – though its detractors, including Warnock, say it strips power from athletes and gives more to university administrators.
“I’d like to see a whole lot more protections for these athletes,” Warnock said last week after voting “no” on a procedural vote looking to advance the bill. “I think the bill does a lot better job protecting the NCAA and others in a very lucrative business, and that wealth has been created on the backs of these athletes.”
The legislation still faces a murky future in the U.S. House, currently in recess. There, congressmen, many with ties to schools with varying degrees of opposition to parts of the bill, will have to hammer out some of the finer details, most notably round conference size and realignment. Lawmakers from key states like Florida and North Carolina may wish to keep options open for schools in their states to be able to swap conferences should they open back up again. Should the bill not pass the House during the narrow lame duck window before January, it will have to start from scratch in 2027.
“From the beginning, our objective was not to squeak by with 60 or 61 votes but to have a big bipartisan vote that demonstrates the importance of stepping in and saving and preserving college sports,” said U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the primary sponsor of the bill. “President Trump is eager to sign this legislation.”
