Thirteen conservative organizations urged the Senate to pass a bipartisan bill aimed at adding new protections to college sports, the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively learned Thursday.
The Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) would set new rules and ways to stabilize college sports and protect athletes. Groups such as the America First Policy Institute, the Bull Moose Project, American Values and the Family Business Coalition argued the bill must pass because it “protects” student athletes and institutions with conservative values.
“The undersigned conservative and pro-family organizations write in support of S. 4668, the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, and urge its passage,” the letter read. “College athletics should remain rooted in education, character development, personal responsibility, and fair competition. Student athletes should be able to benefit from their hard work without turning college sports into an unregulated professional system that sacrifices academic opportunity, institutional values, and women’s athletics. The Protect College Sports Act advances those principles.”
The organizations argued that the bill provides “meaningful protections” for student athletes by allowing them to earn compensation from their “name, image and likeness” and by curbing “predatory agent practices.” It also protects religious liberties and women’s sports.
“The Protect College Sports Act recognizes that opportunity and character must go hand in hand,” the letter continued. “It protects athletes without abandoning academic standards, accommodates religious service and institutions with conservative values, and preserves the laws protecting women’s sports.”
“For these reasons, we urge the Senate to pass the Protect College Sports Act,” the letter concluded.
The PCSA would grant student athletes a new federal right to earn the compensation and requires their agents to register with a state, according to the bill’s text. It also prohibits agents from misrepresenting name, image and likeness deals and caps agent endorsement contract fees at 5%.
The legislation would guarantee scholarships for ten years so athletes can complete their degrees and prohibits schools from rescinding a student’s scholarship while they suffer from an injury, according to the legislation.
The bill would require schools to maintain roster spots and increase Title IX protections for whistleblowers who report violations of the bill’s provisions, and it would require schools to promote their women’s teams, the legislation says.
The America First Policy Institute, the Bull Moose Project, American Values, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the Family Business Coalition, the HSA Coalition, the American Association of Senior Citizens, Independent Women, the 60 Plus Association, AMAC Action, The FAMILY Leader, the Faith and Freedom Coalition and American Values signed the letter.
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell introduced the PCSA on May 27 with several bipartisan co-sponsors, according to a press release. It passed the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee on June 18 in a 19 to 9 vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture Wednesday to allow for a vote on the bill, which could happen as soon as Friday. Cruz, Cantwell and other senators have pitched the legislation to their colleagues and expressed optimism it could pass.
(DCNF)
