WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a sweeping bipartisan bill on Monday that would regulate college sports, an attempt to end “chaos” in an industry that has been upended by skyrocketing athlete payments and near-unrestricted transfers between schools.
The overwhelming 77-22 vote to pass the legislation is the strongest effort yet by Congress to set national regulations governing payments to college athletes for their name, image and likeness and how often they can transfer. It would give the NCAA new authority over those rules and limited antitrust protections to enforce them.
The bill is the product of years of Senate negotiations that intensified after a 2025 lawsuit settlement uprooted the college sports landscape by allowing colleges to pay their players. The legislation, which would still have to pass the House, would codify the settlement into law but also establish new guardrails around the system in an attempt to rein in the runaway costs for colleges.
Glad to see that the Senate and the Federal Government are focused on the right thing… making sure billionaires don’t have to pay professional athletes as much just because they happen to be performing at the collegiate level instead of an established professional sports league.
Not groceries. Not data centers. Not skyrocketing pollution. Not ending the Iran War and bringing down energy costs.
Nope. The priority is saving a few bucks for billionaire boosters, as always.