Protect College Sports Act passed the Senate. Here's how it voted.

With a bipartisan 77-22 vote, the U.S. Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act on Monday, Sept. 28. The bill now heads to the House, which is expected to take it up after the Nov. 3 midterm elections. It would then be moved to the desk of President Trump, who has signaled he would sign it. The

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What is the story about?

With a bipartisan 77-22 vote, the U.S. Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act on Monday, Sept. 28.

The bill now heads to the House, which is expected to take it up after the Nov. 3 midterm elections. It would then be moved to the desk of President Trump, who has signaled he would sign it.

The piece of legislation, written by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), would represent a landmark law regarding the NCAA’s ability to enforce rules and could potentially provide sweeping changes to the landscape of college athletics. It would give the NCAA and its conferences a limited antitrust exemption to set and enforce rules on athlete eligibility, transfers and pay, and would override conflicting state-level name, image and likeness

laws.

The revenue-sharing cap on what schools can pay student-athletes would rise from $21.3 million to $48.8 million and include a $22.5 million fund for keeping current players and up to $5 million for women’s and Olympic sports. It would also limit players to a single transfer without sitting out a season, bar coaches from leaving for a different school during the season, cap agent fees at 5% and guarantee scholarships for 10 years following an athlete’s final season.

The antitrust exemption is akin to those given to professional sports leagues and would restrain lawsuits and legal challenges the NCAA has faced in recent years.

Senate PCSA yes votes by state and party

“It would be nice if college sports could somehow magically fix itself, but this is a matter of law, federal law, and only Congress can fix it,” Cruz said recently during a speech promoting the bill. “Now I know some argue that college sports are doing just fine. They point to high television ratings, enthusiastic fan bases, and packed stadiums. But popularity does not demonstrate that the system is healthy. It simply proves that the system is worth saving.”

Despite the widespread approval, the bill is not without its detractors.

“This is a bill not about college athletes,” said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) during a floor speech before Monday’s vote. “This is a bill about wealthy people. Wealthy coaches, wealthy institutions, and an NCAA who’s enjoyed unbridled power for decades as we watch discrimination, hardships, injustice, and, finally, athletes started getting some power in the equation. And this body, after me trying for 10 to 15 years to get them to step in and help college athletes, this body rushes in to suddenly say ‘We’re protecting college athletes.’ Well, that is not true.”

Booker previously played college football at Stanford. He is also part of a northeast contingent against the bill as no senator from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York or Rhode Island voted yes.

While the bill had bipartisan support, most no votes came from Democrats — only two of the Senate's 53 Republicans voted against it: Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.).

The Democrats were more divided — out of the 45 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the party, 27 voted yes and 20 voted no. The independents split: Sen. Angus King of Maine voted for the bill, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted against it.

Senate votes on the PCSA by party

Looking ahead, the bill now moves to the House, where its path is less clear-cut. The House isn’t scheduled to return until after midterms, so it would take up the bill in a lame-duck session. If it doesn’t pass before the new Congress is seated in January, the process would start over.

The Republicans currently hold 218 seats, a narrow majority, and at least five GOP Representatives have publicly critiqued the bill: Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), and Reps. Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.) and Neal Dunn (R-Fla.).

The Congressional Black Caucus, whose opposition helped sink the rival SCORE Act in May, came out against the bill in August, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) reiterated that opposition last week.

House seats by party and stated PCSA opposition, Sept. 2026

President Trump has endorsed the bill, but it won’t reach his desk until it passes the House.

It’s also favored by the NCAA, whose president Charlie Baker said in a statement following the Senate vote: “Now the bill moves to the U.S. House of Representatives and there is much work left to do to ensure student-athlete benefits are codified into federal law and future generations of young people can access those benefits and use college sports as the launching point for their careers.”

Methodology: Vote data for the Protect College Sports Act on Sept. 28 came from the U.S. Senate. Data on the House breakdown regarding the bill came from the House Press Gallery, the Congressional Black Caucus, Front Office Sports, and POLITICO.