H.R. 9137 — Protect College Sports Act of 2026

This section defines terms for the title, including antitrust laws (encompassing the Clayton Act, FTC Act section 5 on unfair competition, and similar state laws); associated entity (covering boosters, agents, and contributors of more than $50,000 lifetime to an institution or its athletics program); collective (an entity providing donations or support to student athletes or athletics programs, excluding immediate family and certain trademark licensors); compensation (payments or benefits to student athletes, excluding grants-in-aid, Pell Grants, health insurance, hourly wages for non-athletic work, and specified education or employment services); and related terms such as athlete agent, conference, cost of attendance, grant-in-aid, image, and institution.

This section prohibits institutions, conferences, and athletic associations from restricting student athletes' or prospective student athletes' ability to market or earn compensation for their name, image, or likeness, enter name, image, and likeness agreements, or receive or retain grants-in-aid on that basis. It requires Division I student athletes and recruits to disclose agreements or compensation exceeding $600 within 30 days, bars group use of student athletes' name, image, or likeness without individual consent, and permits institutions to restrict eligibility only for violations of student conduct codes or unauthorized use of institutional marks or property.

This section modifies the Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act. It expands the definition of endorsement contract to include name, image, and likeness agreements. It prohibits athlete agents from charging fees exceeding 5 percent of an endorsement contract's value, entering contracts beyond a student athlete's eligibility, or making materially false representations about name, image, and likeness opportunities. It creates a private right of action for student athletes with actual damages and attorney's fees available. It requires athlete agents to register with a State before representing student athletes in endorsement contracts.

This section requires intercollegiate athletic associations to maintain a publicly available website with a searchable database of athlete agents who are registered with a State, certified under the Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act, and compliant with association rules on recruitment and tampering. It authorizes associations to decertify or fine agents for violations and bars decertified agents from representing or contacting student athletes or prospective student athletes at member institutions.

This section requires Division I institutions to disclose anonymized name, image, and likeness agreement data—including service descriptions and compensation amounts—each July 1, and to submit annual reports on sports program revenues, expenditures, student athlete hours spent on athletics, and academic outcomes within 60 days after each academic year ends. It directs intercollegiate athletic associations to establish and maintain a public, searchable database of the data for estimating fair market value of such agreements, updated each September 1, with privacy protections for student athletes.

This section prohibits athletic department employees and volunteers from pressuring or retaliating against student athletes for academic course or major selections and from revoking grants-in-aid based on athletic performance, injury, or roster decisions. It bars marketing or solicitation in financial literacy programming for athletes. It allows limits on countable athletic activities to ensure degree progress and requires Division I institutions to offer former athletes from the preceding 10-year period the chance to return and complete an undergraduate degree with their prior grant-in-aid amount, except in cases of transfer or failure to maintain good standing.

This section requires Division I institutions to cover all out-of-pocket medical expenses, independent second opinions, catastrophic injury insurance for costs exceeding $90,000, and an end-of-college physical for student athletes during participation in intercollegiate sports, plus out-of-pocket expenses for five years after the athlete’s final competition. It also directs intercollegiate athletic associations to maintain a fund of at least $60 million annually to assist Division I institutions with under $20 million in annual athletics revenue and to cover long-term conditions such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

This section requires institutions, conferences, and intercollegiate athletic associations to adhere to specified standards protecting student athletes from brain injury, heat-related illness, rhabdomyolysis, sickle cell trait complications, and asthma, using the National Collegiate Athletic Association concussion protocols effective January 15, 2024, the American College of Sports Medicine heat illness statement from April 2023, and other named guidelines as amended. It also requires reasonable measures to prevent abuse, hazing, and sexual misconduct; annual provision of Student Athlete Ombudsman contact information; designation of an athletic health and safety officer independent of the athletic department; and unchallengeable authority for medical personnel on return-to-play decisions.

This section requires each intercollegiate athletic association to establish an Office of the Student Athlete Ombudsman that provides student athletes free independent advice on their rights and responsibilities under this title, assists in resolving concerns with the association, conferences, or institutions, supplies third-party resource contacts, and advises on the value of legal counsel. The association must fund the office, which must maintain confidentiality with exceptions for felonies, imminent harm, or federal reporting, prohibit retaliation against athletes who contact it, and operate without interference from governing boards.

This section requires intercollegiate athletic associations and conferences to maintain comparable standards for medical care, lodging, meals, rest, transportation, and athletic facilities for championship events or tournaments across similarly situated men’s and women’s athletic programs.

This section prohibits football athletic personnel, including head coaches and coordinators, at Football Bowl Subdivision institutions from performing any head coach duties at another institution during the same competitive season. It renders any individual who accepts a head coach position at another institution ineligible to coach for the hiring institution through the later of the two institutions' seasons, including postseason, and bars that individual from coaching at the hiring institution for the following season plus additional penalties.

This section requires that at least one-third of the membership and voting power on the boards of directors, governing boards, and committees with rulemaking authority of any intercollegiate athletic association consist of current student athletes or former student athletes who graduated within the preceding 10 years. It excludes current or former employees of the association, a conference, or a member institution from counting toward the requirement and bars any member from voting on matters that present a conflict of interest.

This section permits a student athlete to transfer once without losing or delaying eligibility to compete. It allows a second transfer with loss of eligibility during the first academic year after the transfer, except that no eligibility is lost or delayed upon discontinuation of the athlete’s sport, departure of the head coach, sexual assault or harassment by an individual associated with the team, or pursuit of a graduate degree.

This section establishes eligibility standards for varsity intercollegiate athletic participation. An individual must be a student athlete who meets uniform academic standards, is not a professional athlete, and complies with rules restricting eligibility for State or Federal law violations. Eligibility is limited to a maximum of 5 calendar years beginning after the earliest of the 19th birthday, high school graduation, expected graduation, or full-time enrollment, with exceptions for pregnancy, religious missions, active-duty military service, or uniform association rules. Associations or conferences may restrict eligibility for illegal or performance-enhancing drug use or sports wagering, and institutions may restrict it for code-of-conduct violations. Student athletes in sports other than football or basketball are not deemed professional solely for receiving event prize money from non-institutional sponsors. Transfers from 2-year to 4-year institutions may not face additional academic standards beyond those applied to 4-year transfers.

This section prohibits institutions of higher education, conferences, and related entities from providing compensation to student athletes or prospects that circumvents the revenue share cap, or from entering name, image, and likeness agreements lacking a valid business purpose or not commensurate with payments to non-athletes. It permits reasonable payments for family transportation during health concerns or competitions, meals, medical coverage, and education expenses.

This section extends the revenue share cap for college athletes after expiration or termination of the Injunctive Relief Settlement Agreement in In Re College Athlete NIL Litigation. It adjusts the annual cap each year for inflation based on the Consumer Price Index for All-Urban Consumers.

This section establishes the Congressional Commission on the Future of College Athletics within the legislative branch. The 20-member commission, appointed by Senate and House committee leaders and party leaders with at least 8 current or former student athletes, studies and recommends on student-athlete compensation structures including collective bargaining, protections for non-revenue and women’s sports, spending limits, the Pool Benefits Limit from the NIL litigation settlement, health and safety standards, athlete mistreatment, and related issues. It must submit a report with legislative recommendations to the specified congressional committees and the President within 5 years.

This section authorizes intercollegiate athletic associations to enforce rules that prohibit institutions, conferences, employees, associated entities, and athlete agents from contacting or recruiting student athletes enrolled at or committed to another institution except during the 5 consecutive weeks beginning 7 days after the last competition of the academic year. It also permits rules requiring affirmative opt-in before any recruitment contact and barring compensation offers that induce transfers in violation of those limits.

This section exempts intercollegiate athletic associations, conferences, and institutions from antitrust liability for enforcing or complying with sections 101, 103, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, and 117, including through rules or bylaws on student-athlete compensation, transfers, eligibility, and championship selection. It also authorizes associations to impose fines, restrict participation in competition, limit student-athlete eligibility, and decertify agents for violations of those sections, provided the association maintains implementing rules.

This section establishes a private right of action for violations of sections 101(a) and (c), 104 through 109, 111, 112 (limited to transfer standards), 113 (limited to eligibility standards), and 114(b). It authorizes prevailing plaintiffs to recover actual damages plus equitable or declaratory relief and permits courts to award attorney’s fees. It prohibits pre-dispute arbitration agreements between athletic associations, conferences, or institutions and student-athletes, allows arbitration only if both parties agree, and bars enforcement of pre-dispute joint-action waivers against groups of seven or more student-athletes. It requires plaintiffs to provide 60 days’ written notice before filing and permits defendants to cure violations within that period. It preserves the dispute-resolution procedures set forth in article 6, section 2, of the In Re College Athlete NIL Litigation settlement for name-image-likeness and compliance claims.

This section prohibits institutions, conferences, and intercollegiate athletic associations from discharging, demoting, harassing, or otherwise retaliating against employees, student athletes, prospective or former student athletes, contractors, or agents for providing information about violations of this title to federal or state agencies or Congress or for assisting in related proceedings. It authorizes aggrieved individuals to sue in federal district court for compensatory damages, attorney’s fees, equitable relief, temporary relief, reinstatement, and backpay, and renders unenforceable any agreement waiving these rights or requiring predispute arbitration of such claims.

This section preempts state and local laws that conflict with this title or that regulate name, image, or likeness compensation for student athletes, transfers between institutions, or eligibility to participate in intercollegiate athletics. It preserves state Uniform Athlete Agent Acts, civil rights laws, tort and criminal laws, contract law, consumer protection law, privacy and data breach laws, and other listed categories of state law, and it leaves federal antitrust, trademark, and copyright laws unaffected.

This section provides that if any provision of this title or an amendment made by this title is determined to be unenforceable or invalid, the remaining provisions of this title and the amendments made by this title remain in effect.

This section provides definitions for terms used in the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, including collective media rights revenue, covered entity, conference, grant-in-aid, institution, intercollegiate athletic association, intercollegiate athletic competition, intercollegiate football, intercollegiate sport, member conference, member institution, student athlete, top 5 and top 10 historic opponents in intercollegiate football, traditional rivalry, and varsity sports team.

This section exempts from the antitrust laws any joint agreement by or among colleges or conferences to form and operate a covered entity that complies with section 5 requirements and sells or transfers telecasting rights for intercollegiate athletic competitions. It also updates cross-references in sections 2 through 4 of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 to reflect the new structure of section 1.

This section conditions the antitrust exemption under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 for joint agreements forming a covered entity on compliance with specified requirements. The covered entity must include at least 75 percent of Football Bowl Subdivision institutions, offer membership on nondiscriminatory terms to all Division I conferences and institutions, allocate one vote per member conference or institution with student-athlete votes on revenue matters, require two-thirds votes for major decisions and unanimous votes for revenue allocations, distribute collective media rights revenue with minimum guarantees above 2021–2025 levels plus at least 15 percent shared equally among qualifying institutions, and protect funding for women’s and Olympic sports.

This section requires covered entities to offer at least one nonexclusive Local Outlet option for live carriage of each intercollegiate football or basketball competition, without charge to viewers, in the local designated market area of every participating member institution, as a condition of the antitrust exemption under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. It directs the FCC to publish and maintain a list of such market areas within 180 days and to enforce good-faith negotiation requirements between covered entities and rights holders.

This section prohibits any conference reporting more than $1 billion in revenue on its fiscal year 2025 tax return from merging or consolidating with, or acquiring the assets, media rights, or membership of, another conference if the transaction would reduce the number of member institutions below the requirements in section 5(b)(1)(A). It voids any such transaction and bars defenses based on efficiencies or procompetitive effects.

This section extends the period during which joint agreements may permit telecasts of professional football games near intercollegiate or interscholastic contests, changing the start date to the first Friday in September (from the second Friday) and the end date to the third Saturday in December (from the second Saturday). It also requires that the season and any postseason of such intercollegiate contests conclude not later than January 8 of any year, to the extent practicable.

This section requires distributors that acquire media rights for intercollegiate athletic competitions in sports other than football or basketball to make those competitions reasonably available to the public within one year after the agreement takes effect. If the distributor fails to do so, the originating entity may notify it and, after an additional 180 days without use, the rights revert and may be reconveyed to another party.