What Happened?

If you watch college football or basketball, a bill now waiting on the House could change how your team’s games are sold to TV networks and whether you can watch them for free. The Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act 77 to 22 on Monday, Sept. 28, setting national rules for athlete pay and letting schools sell their media rights together. ​

The Congressional Research Service examined the bill’s media rights changes in a Sept. 23 report, according to a Legis1 review of the report. The money is the backdrop. About 94% of Division I athletics programs spent more than they generated in the 2023 to 2024 school year, according to a Government Accountability Office report, even as media rights brought the four biggest conferences about $2.3 billion.

Why Does It Matter To Me?

The bill touches fans, athletes and schools in several ways:

  • One media rights seller: Schools could negotiate TV deals together through a single national group, free from antitrust lawsuits, if at least 75% of top-tier football schools join, or at least 104 of 138.
  • Free local games: That group would have to offer a free local option, such as a broadcast station or ad-supported streaming, for each football and basketball game in a school’s home market.
  • Athlete pay: The bill would write into law a cap on what schools share with athletes, about $21.6 million per school for the 2026 to 2027 school year, and override conflicting state laws on name, image and likeness deals.
  • Army-Navy Game: No postseason college football game could air against it, matching a March 20 executive order.

It also authorizes $180 million a year from fiscal 2027 through 2032 for broadcasting and media grants to historically Black colleges and universities.

Both Sides, Now

“The system we have today is unsustainable, plain and simple,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the bill’s sponsor, who argues it will stop bidding wars that could push schools to cut smaller sports. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) was its main Democratic backer, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the Big Ten, the Southeastern Conference and the White House support it.

Twenty Democrats and two Republicans voted no. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said that for athletes, the bill “undermines their rights, undermines their collective bargaining, undermines their health and safety,” and would limit their ability to sue the NCAA, CBS News reported. The Supreme Court has twice ruled against NCAA limits on antitrust grounds, in 1984 over TV rights and in 2021 over athletes’ education benefits.

What Happens Next?

The House is out until Monday, Nov. 9, and Speaker Mike Johnson has signaled it will take up the bill after the election, according to a Cozen O’Connor legal alert. House leaders pulled their own college sports bill, the SCORE Act, from the floor three times.

If the House doesn’t pass it before the current Congress ends Jan. 3, 2027, the bill dies and would have to start over.

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