Senate votes 74-24 on September 16 to advance Protect College Sports Act toward final passage

The Senate voted 74-24 on September 16, 2026, to end debate on the Protect College Sports Act, clearing the 60-vote filibuster threshold and moving the bill one step closer to a final up-or-down vote, according to ESPN's reporting.

The legislation, the product of years of negotiations and tens of millions of dollars in federal lobbying, aims to establish uniform rules for college athletics governance, revenue sharing, and athlete eligibility after a decade of legal challenges and NCAA rule changes.

Under the bill, colleges would be permitted to share with athletes no more than 22 percent of certain revenues, roughly $21.5 million this year, a figure agreed to in House settlement talks. The legislation would add a $27.5 million "retention pool" allowing schools to keep current players. Players would be restricted to one "free" transfer without sitting out a year. The bill places into law the NCAA's new rule allowing players five years of eligibility but no more. It also would codify health and safety standards and require the richest schools to maintain women's and Olympic sports roster numbers.

A second section allows conferences to pool and sell media rights, a move proponents say could generate between $4 billion and $8 billion in additional revenue. The SEC and Big Ten, according to ESPN, have said they would not participate in pooling. The ACC's current broadcast deal with ESPN expires in 2036, meaning the option to pool media rights is unlikely to happen before 2036, per reporting by Ross Dellenger cited in Awful Announcing. A third section would fund broadband service at historically Black colleges and universities.

Supporters emphasized the vote's scope as evidence of stability. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called the bill "a bipartisan solution designed to bring order to the chaos," according to ESPN. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said the lopsided nature of the vote left her "cautiously optimistic" it could pass the House. John Calipari of Arkansas said "This clears up about 75-80% of our issues. Nothing is perfect. This is a bite out of the apple," per ESPN. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) said "We're going to get one shot at this, and I don't know if we ever will again soon. We've got a moment."

Opposition remains substantial. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said the bill "at its core is to protect a system of exploitation" and noted "over and over again, courts have determined that colleges and the NCAA and conferences are violating the law," according to ESPN. All four Black Democrats in the Senate, Cory Booker, Raphael Warnock, Lisa Blunt Rochester, and Angela Alsobrooks, voted against the bill. The NAACP strongly opposes it. Labor groups including the AFL-CIO and SEIU, as well as civil rights organizations, argue college athletes should negotiate rules through collective bargaining rather than having Congress decide unilaterally, per Front Office Sports.

Players themselves expressed concern about exclusion from the process. Temple football player Jackson Pruitt said "Athletes don't want this. And truth be told, athletes aren't fully educated on what's taking place. And they weren't vetted about this," according to Front Office Sports. Players including Maryland women's basketball player Oluchi Okananwa, LSU women's basketball player Jada Williams, and Pruitt said they wanted rules and regulation in college sports but wanted to be involved via collective bargaining. College athletics attorney Mit Winter, cited in Awful Announcing, wrote "One of the big reasons for some pushing the PCSA is the claim it would increase revenue for all schools via pooling of TV rights. But as noted here, that won't happen anytime soon if ever. So the bill is mostly now just a way to try & limit money being paid to athletes." TV networks themselves are among the bill's supporters and would stand to benefit from the new revisions, per Awful Announcing.