{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hoeven.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/hoeven-statement-after-senate-begins-debate-on-protect-college-sports-act", "Hoeven Statement After Senate Begins Debate on Protect College Sports Act", "2026-09-15", "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.) issued the following statement after the Senate began debate on the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA), bipartisan legislation to improve fairness and stability in college athletics.\n\n\u201cI cosponsored this legislation because I love sports and I care about the long-term viability of our college athletic programs. There are about 500,000 student athletes, and very few of them will become professional athletes. We need to not only protect them, but protect collegiate sports programs across this country,\u201d said Hoeven. \u201cCurrently there\u2019s a patchwork of state laws and court cases regulating college athletics and making it incredibly hard for small programs and non-revenue sports to continue. This legislation is fair to the athletes that will play in the pros, but it is also fair and protects the other half a million athletes and programs both large and small to ensure that we have robust college sports now and into the future. The Senate has now begun debate on this bill, and I hope we can pass it soon with strong bipartisan support.\u201d\n\nHoeven is a cosponsor of the legislation, and this week made the case for passing the legislation at a press conference led by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), with college sports leaders and athletes from across the country, including former North Dakota State University (NDSU) head football coach Craig Bohl and Adam Dugger, a current NDSU track and field student athlete.\n\nThe PCSA seeks to address issues created by the patchwork of state laws and court cases regulating college athletics, including a settlement reached in 2025 under House v. NCAA that allows schools to pay student athletes directly. This settlement has put schools with fewer financial resources at a competitive disadvantage and encourages 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. The bill:\n\nLimits what schools can pay athletes.\n\nPrevents player- or coach-poaching.\n\nCurbs excessive transfers.\n\nStops Super League consolidation.\n\nSecure access for local broadcasters to ensure a free option for fans to watch games.\n\nThe PCSA was introduced by Cruz and Cantwell, who serve as the Senate Commerce Committee Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively. Additional bill details include:\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 19 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, "2026-09-16T09:43:13Z", "2026-09-16T09:44:22Z"]], "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-statement-after-senate-begins-debate-on-protect-college-sports-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9020320139825344, "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"}