The Democratic Party pulled off a stunning rebuke of Donald Trump on Tuesday night, flipping both the Senate and House in the U.S. midterms. And we're already seeing how the enormous electoral swing could impact the college sports landscape.
Back in September, the Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act by a 77–22 vote. The act was supposed to place limits on school-sponsored revenue sharing in the NIL era, restrict the transfers that have become widespread in college sports and gave some antitrust exemptions for the NCAA. Networks like ESPN also gave Ted Cruz — who co-sponsored the bill — prominent air time to lobby for it.
But despite the bill's success in the Senate, it was not voted on in the House. And with the Democratic Party's massive
night, there is little expectation the Republican-led House will vote on the bill in the lame duck.
The Protect College Sports Act is probably dead. https://t.co/O43l9f1Kml
— Darren Heitner (@heitner) November 4, 2026
Tonight's election results pretty much kills the Protect College Sports Act. Only chance is for it to be passed by both chambers and signed by President Trump before January. Otherwise they're starting from square one against much more hostile terrain.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) November 4, 2026
The Democratic-led congress could take up the issue again after January, but it's unlikely to be a priority. And if it does ever see a vote, it'll almost certainly look different from the version the Senate passed.
Basically, the Protect College Sports Act is effectively dead.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: What the midterm results mean for the Protect College Sports Act
