Sponsors (26)
Official title: To protect the name, image, and likeness rights of college athletes.
Introduced December 2, 2025 by Lori Trahan · Last progress December 2, 2025
The bill expands college athletes' ability to monetize NIL and strengthens agent oversight and public accountability, but shifts costs and enforcement away from campuses and states—raising litigation, compliance, competitive-balance, and privacy risks that could disproportionately burden institutions and smaller programs.
College athletes (all NCAA-level student-athletes) can earn and keep name/image/likeness (NIL) compensation, hire representatives, and benefit from clearer written-contract protections (reducing fraud and increasing earning opportunities).
Student-athletes are protected from exploitative agent endorsement fees by a 4% cap, preserving a larger share of endorsement income for athletes.
Agent oversight and athlete control are strengthened: agents must register/certify with states and associations, contracts must allow termination effective the day after a student leaves school, and an FTC study could centralize certification/regulatory options — improving transparency and reducing unscrupulous representation.
Colleges, conferences, and nonprofit athletic organizations face substantially higher litigation and compliance exposure (expanded FTC authority, private rights of action, registration and reporting requirements), likely raising administrative costs and diverting resources from athletic programs and academics.
Institutions lose tools to regulate athlete conduct and monitor NIL arrangements (limits on institutional restrictions and bans on forced disclosure of NIL terms), which could complicate enforcement of eligibility, team management, and competitive balance.
The bill's inclusion and explicit treatment of the 'Power Four' conferences risks entrenching their market power and influence over rules, potentially disadvantaging smaller conferences, HBCUs, and non‑Power Four schools.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Protects college athletes’ NIL and representation rights, caps agent fees, assigns FTC enforcement, creates a governance commission, and expands team-level financial reporting.
Protects college athletes’ rights to be paid for their name, image, and likeness (NIL), to hire agents, and to keep contract terms private; limits agent fees and requires certain agent contract terms; gives the FTC enforcement authority and a private right of action for violations; creates a congressional Commission to study governance of college sports; and expands annual institutional athletics financial and participation reporting, with the new reporting rules effective July 1, 2026 for the 2026–2027 academic year.