Senate moves to rein in college sports 'Wild West' with sweeping new rules for players, schools

The Senate took a major first step to advancing standardized, federal guardrails on college sports as name, image and likeness (NIL) has transformed the landscape of collegiate athletics.Lawmakers moved the Protect College Sports Act, led by Sen.Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen.

Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., onto the next phase, opening up the opportunity for the Senate to advance the bipartisan bill later in the week."I think most people acknowledge that the current landscape of college sports is a mess," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said ahead of the vote."It needs to be addressed."SENATE ADVANCES LANDMARK PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT, IGNORING SEC AND BIG TEN OPPOSITION WITH CLOCK TICKINGSen.

Ted Cruz stands on the sidelines during the SEC football game between the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies on Nov.28, 2025, at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)At its core, Cruz pitched the legislation as a means to corral the chaos that has unfolded in college athletics since the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) made its landmark decision in 2021 to allow student-athletes to benefit financially while playing collegiate football, basketball and many others."Some have asked why should Congress get in the middle of this? The answer is simple: because Congress screwed it up in the first place," Cruz said during a press conference on Monday."It has been the federal antitrust laws applied in litigation after litigation after litigation that have had the effect of tearing down essentially all the rules," he continued."So right now it is the Wild West."CRUZ AND CANTWELL REFUSE TO BEND TO SEC AND BIG TEN CONCERNS IN REVISED COLLEGE ATHLETICS LEGISLATIONThe Protect College Sports Act would broadly add restrictions to the transfer portal for student-athletes, create a uniform eligibility framework of five years, recruiting and tampering guardrails that establish when schools or agents can contact or ...