Hoeven: Senate Passes Protect College Sports Act to Improve Fairness, Stability of College Athletics

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.) today announced that the Senate approved the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA), bipartisan legislation he cosponsored to improve fairness and stability in college athletics. The Senate passed the legislation in a strong 77-22 vote, sending the bill to the House of Representatives for consideration. “It’s become the Wild, Wild West in college sports with unlimited transfers and more and more programs being eliminated,” said Hoeven. “Our legislation is designed to improve fairness and restore stability to college athletics. The bill treats student athletes fairly – whether they’re one of the few who will go pro, or one of the 500,000 other student athletes competing while earning their degree. The Senate passed this legislation with a big, bipartisan vote and we’re hopeful the House will do the same,” said Hoeven. Hoeven has been working to build support for the legislation including at press conferences with: The Presidents and Athletic Directors of North Dakota State University (NDSU) and University of North Dakota (UND). College sports leaders and athletes from across the country, including former NDSU head football coach Craig Bohl and Adam Dugger, a current NDSU track and field student athlete. The PCSA, which was introduced by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), seeks to address issues created by the patchwork of state laws and court cases regulating college athletics. A settlement reached in 2025 under House v. NCAA allows schools to pay student athletes directly, which has put schools with fewer financial resources at a competitive disadvantage and encouraged gaming of the transfer portal. It also pressures schools to channel more funding into football and basketball, reducing resources available for students who participate in other sports programs. Accordingly, the legislation would: Better protect and benefit student athletes by: Preventing deceptive practices by agents or schools. Protecting students’ Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights. Ensuring pro athletes can’t compete in college sports. Helping preserve support for women’s and Olympic sports. Level the playing field in college sports across all schools by: Limiting what schools can pay athletes. Preventing player- or coach-poaching. Curbing excessive transfers. Stopping Super League consolidation. Secure access for local broadcasters to ensure a free option for fans to watch games. Improve Fairness for Student Athletes Protect NIL rights by ensuring students can enter into NIL agreements and retain agents without losing scholarships or institutional support. Stop fraudulent agents and deceptive contracts by establishing a registry of certified agents and allowing sanctions against agents that exploit student athletes. Create uniform, enforceable eligibility rules for college athletes, including: Setting a cap of 5 years of playing time starting from the time of enrollment or the academic year following a student’s 19th birthday, whichever comes first. Loss of eligibility for participation in professional sports and poor academic performance, among other issues. Create new funding incentives and revenue streams to preserve support for women’s and Olympic sports. Require Division I schools to cover out-of-pocket medical costs for sports-related injuries and require all athletic programs to follow health and safety standards. Restore Fair Competition for Schools Limit compensation for student athletes and create enforceable standards on recruitment, tampering and NIL disclosures. Prevent player- and coach-poaching by: Allowing sanctions against agents that facilitate player poaching or recruit tampering. Prohibiting football coaches from quitting mid-season to be hired by another program. Curbing excessive transfers. Student athletes are guaranteed one transfer as an undergraduate without losing eligibility with certain exceptions. Stop Super League consolidation by: Prohibiting conferences with more than $700 million in revenue from consolidating with or acquiring other conferences. Limiting conference expansion to 20 entities. Allow schools to voluntarily pool media rights across conference lines. The bill also requires at least one free local broadcast option for football and basketball games in the local market of each participating school to preserve fan access to games. -###-