The Newest Antitrust Fight: Congress Works to Protect This ‘Wild and Unruly’ Billion-Dollar Industry

A new bipartisan bill is set to be introduced in the Senate next week as the federal government steps in to protect college sports, athletes, fans, and women’s sports. Congress is acting with the first governance and revenue bill of its kind.

The Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced it has “reached a bipartisan agreement on legislation to restore stability to college sports, titled the Protect College Sports Act of 2026.”

“Fans can see their favorite teams being hollowed out by transfer chaos, fake NIL bidding wars, eligibility lawsuits, and a system that allows the richest programs to keep pulling away,” Cruz said in a press release.

Since 2021, college athletes have been allowed to profit from their name, image, and likeness. With no regulation, the landscape has become “wild and unruly,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told the Daily Signal. Schmitt, like many Americans, is a fan of college sports and wants to see them protected. He played while he was in school and continues to play baseball in the congressional ballgame every year.

Schmitt said the lack of regulation is why some athletes have had seven years of eligibility or have gone professional and then moved back down to the college level. The NCAA “really has no authority to enforce any kind of rules,” he said.

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Though people may be “skeptical” about the government attempting to regulate college sports, “Congress is the only entity on the planet that can give antitrust exemption to the NCAA to have rules that can stand up in court,” Schmitt said.

He added, “We’ve outlined the five years of eligibility, the one-time transfer, some rules for agents so they’re not ripping off athletes, [and] making sure athletes are protected by safety and medical care.”

To protect and enhance the revenue of college sports, the bill would allow conferences to pool their negotiating power so they can get a better deal, allowing them to “maximize” their “ability to generate revenue.”

“In 1961, Congress gave the NFL and other sports leagues the ability to negotiate in a unified sports deal. So, we’re doing that here, too, for college football,” Schmitt said.

The NCAA and college sports programs are missing out on billions of dollars every year. “The NBA, for example, has half the audience of college football at twice the revenue—$8 billion,” he continued.

Participation in pooled negotiating would be voluntary for schools. But if they choose to participate, they would be able to fund and protect women’s sports, which are usually subsidized by a school’s football program.

While the narrative around women’s sports has been protecting them from biological men competing, without legislation like the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, women’s sports might not be left for women to compete in.

Schmitt noted that he “obviously” supports keeping biological men out of women’s sports. However, “that’s not in this bill.”

With bipartisan support from Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Schmitt said he “hopes” to see the legislation advance through a Commerce Committee vote and onto the Senate floor.

“It’s just not a red jersey, blue jersey thing in my view. These are uniquely American institutions, and if we don’t do something, the landscape is going to change very dramatically in the next couple of years. It’s just not sustainable,” he said.