Senate poised to vote on Protect College Sports Act as conferences draft alternative governance plan
Lawmakers are expected to approve the Protect College Sports Act on Monday, while leaders of major college sports conferences are preparing a parallel “Plan B” that would implement similar compensation and transfer rules at the league level.
The United States Senate is expected to approve the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) on Monday, a bill that would give the NCAA an antitrust exemption, limit athletes to one penalty-free transfer, standardize a five-year eligibility rule, tighten limits on revenue-share from name-image-likeness (NIL) deals, and create an agent registry with a 5% fee cap. The legislation also allows Football Bowl Subdivision conferences to pool media rights, restricts conference expansion, and bars coaches who leave before a season ends from taking new jobs elsewhere.
Anticipating the vote, executives from the Power Five conferences are developing a “Plan B” that mirrors many PCSA provisions. Internal memos indicate they are considering a stricter $48.8 million revenue-share cap than the current soft cap of $21.3 million, and they are discussing league-wide rules on transfers, agent registration, and NIL deal limits. The goal, officials say, is to have a workable compensation framework in place before the January transfer portal opens.
"Every one of our players is negotiating their deals now," said a conference athletic director. "Agents are already calling," added another administrator.
Lead plaintiff attorneys in the NCAA antitrust settlement, Jeffrey Kessler and Steve Berman, warned that any conference-generated cap would require their approval and could be challenged by the court overseeing the settlement. Berman emphasized that a soft cap on NIL deals should remain unchanged, while Kessler expressed skepticism toward restrictions that could limit legitimate NIL agreements.
The College Sports Commission, the body tasked with enforcing NIL rules, reported a sharp increase in denied deals—nearly 500 between July and August, valued at $67 million—while approving over 12,000 deals worth more than $225 million in the same period. Critics of the PCSA, including some Republican senators, argue that the bill imposes federal control without sufficient input from athletes.
As the Senate prepares to vote, the outcome will shape whether the federal government or individual conferences will lead the next phase of college-sports governance.