{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hoeven.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/hoeven-senate-passes-protect-college-sports-act-to-improve-fairness-stability-of-college-athletics", "Hoeven: Senate Passes Protect College Sports Act to Improve Fairness, Stability of College Athletics", "2026-09-28", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "Senate", "ND", "John Hoeven", "H001061", "www.hoeven.senate.gov", "hoeven", "https://www.hoeven.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.) today announced that the Senate approved the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA), bipartisan legislation he cosponsored to improve fairness and stability in college athletics. The Senate passed the legislation in a strong 77-22 vote, sending the bill to the House of Representatives for consideration.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s become the Wild, Wild West in college sports with unlimited transfers and more and more programs being eliminated,\u201d said Hoeven. \u201cOur legislation is designed to improve fairness and restore stability to college athletics. The bill treats student athletes fairly \u2013 whether they\u2019re one of the few who will go pro, or one of the 500,000 other student athletes competing while earning their degree. The Senate passed this legislation with a big, bipartisan vote and we\u2019re hopeful the House will do the same,\u201d said Hoeven.\n\nHoeven has been working to build support for the legislation including at press conferences with:\n\nThe Presidents and Athletic Directors of North Dakota State University (NDSU) and University of North Dakota (UND).\n\nCollege sports leaders and athletes from across the country, including former NDSU head football coach Craig Bohl and Adam Dugger, a current NDSU track and field student athlete.\n\nThe PCSA, which was introduced by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), seeks to address issues created by the patchwork of state laws and court cases regulating college athletics. A settlement reached in 2025 under House v. NCAA allows schools to pay student athletes directly, which has put schools with fewer financial resources at a competitive disadvantage and encouraged gaming of the transfer portal. It also pressures schools to channel more funding into football and basketball, reducing resources available for students who participate in other sports programs. Accordingly, the legislation would:\n\nBetter protect and benefit student athletes by:\n\nPreventing deceptive practices by agents or schools.\n\nProtecting students\u2019 Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights.\n\nEnsuring pro athletes can\u2019t compete in college sports.\n\nHelping preserve support for women\u2019s and Olympic sports.\n\nLevel the playing field in college sports across all schools by:\n\nLimiting what schools can pay athletes.\n\nPreventing player- or coach-poaching.\n\nCurbing excessive transfers.\n\nStopping Super League consolidation.\n\nSecure access for local broadcasters to ensure a free option for fans to watch games.\n\nImprove Fairness for Student Athletes\n\nProtect NIL rights by ensuring students can enter into NIL agreements and retain agents without losing scholarships or institutional support.\n\nStop fraudulent agents and deceptive contracts by establishing a registry of certified agents and allowing sanctions against agents that exploit student athletes.\n\nCreate uniform, enforceable eligibility rules for college athletes, including:\n\nSetting a cap of 5 years of playing time starting from the time of enrollment or the academic year following a student\u2019s 19th birthday, whichever comes first.\n\nLoss of eligibility for participation in professional sports and poor academic performance, among other issues.\n\nCreate new funding incentives and revenue streams to preserve support for women\u2019s and Olympic sports.\n\nRequire Division I schools to cover out-of-pocket medical costs for sports-related injuries and require all athletic programs to follow health and safety standards.\n\nRestore Fair Competition for Schools\n\nLimit compensation for student athletes and create enforceable standards on recruitment, tampering and NIL disclosures.\n\nPrevent player- and coach-poaching by:\n\nAllowing sanctions against agents that facilitate player poaching or recruit tampering.\n\nProhibiting football coaches from quitting mid-season to be hired by another program.\n\nCurbing excessive transfers.\n\nStudent athletes are guaranteed one transfer as an undergraduate without losing eligibility with certain exceptions.\n\nStop Super League consolidation by:\n\nProhibiting conferences with more than $700 million in revenue from consolidating with or acquiring other conferences.\n\nLimiting conference expansion to 20 entities.\n\nAllow schools to voluntarily pool media rights across conference lines.\n\nThe bill also requires at least one free local broadcast option for football and basketball games in the local market of each participating school to preserve fan access to games.\n\n-###-", 1, "2026-09-30T10:57:52Z", "2026-09-30T10:59:04Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hoeven.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/hoeven-senate-passes-protect-college-sports-act-to-improve-fairness-stability-of-college-athletics"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7380518838763237, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}