As the United States sinks deeper into division at home and abroad, the U.S. Senate convened Wednesday to safeguard a corner of the national edifice that—judged by the same economic forces driving the country’s fragmentation—some would say is doing comparably remarkable: college sports.
At a moment when Congress may be near a historic low in popularity and functionality, members of the Senate Commerce Committee opened their hearing by celebrating the rare bipartisan accomplishment of simply introducing the Protect College Sports Act of 2026. The bill—co-sponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.)—seeks to curb the endless lawsuits that have arisen from a multibillion-dollar industry built upon decades of Title IX inequities and antitrust violations.
“This is a moment where we can come together,” Cruz, the committee chairman, said in his opening statement. “(Cantwell) and I have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours, negotiating this bill. … I have thought at multiple times we were never going to get there.”
The College Sports Act aims to codify and extend the revenue-sharing cap established under the House v. NCAA settlement, offer a limited antitrust exemption for the NCAA over athlete eligibility and transfers, authorize mechanisms for media-rights pooling and provide a range of protections for athletes.
