The Protect College Sports Act, a bill co-sponsor Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called \u201ca bipartisan solution designed to bring order to the chaos\u201d easily cleared the 60-vote threshold it needed to stop the filibuster.<\/p>\n
Co-sponsor Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said the lopsided nature of the vote left her \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d it could get through the House, which has failed repeatedly in passing a different version of a college sports bill.<\/p>\n
There remains, however, a persistent block of opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this bill does at its core is to protect a system of exploitation,\u201d said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.<\/p>\n
Notably, all four Black Democrats in the Senate \u2014 Cory Booker, Raphael Warnock, Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks \u2014 voted against the bill that is strongly opposed by the NAACP.<\/p>\n
The vote came a week after college football\u2019s most recent crisis \u2014 a scheduled meeting of school presidents in the Southeastern Conference to expel LSU over its now-canceled plans to place players on the roster who had participated in NFL training camps.<\/p>\n
Calmer heads prevailed. The eligibility lawsuit that triggered the mess is the sort of litigation the bill would outlaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was probably like a big lamp for some people who saw it and said, \u2018Oh my God, this is so out of control,\u2019\u201d Cantwell said in an interview with The Associated Press. \u201cYou can see how out-of-hand the situation was getting.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Congress_College_Sports_Acts_59619.jpg\")
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., left, speaks as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, right, listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mariam Zuhaib)
\nIntroduced in May, compromises finally got the bill to the floor in September<\/p>\n
Cantwell and Cruz introduced the bill in late May<\/a> and it nearly died without the support of the Southeastern and Big Ten conferences. Compromises helped get them on board, then it became a matter of getting the bill onto the floor of the busy upper chamber.<\/p>\n At around the time the vote took place, Cantwell released a report<\/a> that outlined a \u201cspending spiral\u201d that has taken hold of college sports since name-image-likeness payments began.<\/p>\n Among its findings: There was a $519.9 million increase in institutional and government support of athletic programs between 2015 and 2025 among the 53 schools in the Power Four whose data was publicly available. The bill promises to harness that in a number of ways, including:<\/p>\n \u2014 Placing into law the 22% cap (around $21.5 million this year) on revenue colleges are allowed to share with their players \u2014 an amount agreed to in the House settlement that defined the rules over paying players. It would add a $27.5 million \u201cretention pool\u201d<\/a> for schools to keep current players in a move that could bring some of the hard-to-regulate third-party NIL deals back in-house.<\/p>\n
![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Congress_College_Sports_Acts_8673_.jpg\")
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., second from right, listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mariam Zuhaib)