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Prohibits private‑equity “vulture investors” and enumerated abusive practices in youth sports, creates certification and divestiture rules, civil/criminal penalties, and a Youth Sports Fund.
Official title: Prohibit vulture investors from investing in youth sports, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 13, 2026 by Christopher Murphy · Last progress May 13, 2026
The bill significantly strengthens protections, remedies, and enforcement against predatory private-equity practices in youth sports—improving safety, affordability, and victim compensation—at the cost of higher compliance burdens, broader agency power, increased litigation risk, and a real possibility of reduced private investment and transitional disruption to local programs.
Children and youth (and their parents) gain stronger safety, privacy, and affordability protections in youth sports—bans on exploitative 'junk' fees and mandatory vendor conditions, limits on biometric/data commercialization, enforcement of safety rules, and reduced participation costs/expanded scholarships.
Federal regulators (FTC, DOJ) can close common loopholes and treat sham restructurings or entity formations as ineffective, making it harder for risky or 'vulture' investors to evade oversight and keeping harmful actors subject to the Act.
Individuals and communities harmed by abusive investor practices have stronger financial remedies—private suits with treble damages, state AG enforcement, invalidation of arbitration/class‑waiver clauses, disgorgement and escrow to reimburse victims, and mandated refunds/forgiveness of certain debts.
Private investors and funds face heightened liability and presumptions that can deter investment, meaning fewer private dollars for youth sports, reduced professionalization, and potential loss of program expansion or resources for local organizations.
Covered firms, small businesses, and investors will face substantial new compliance costs and regulatory uncertainty from overlapping federal, state, and local standards, broad agency discretion, and expanded enforcement powers—likely raising legal and operational expenses.
The bill grants agencies broad remedial and expedited rulemaking powers (including designations, presumed denials, and rules without full notice-and-comment), increasing risk of overreach, unpredictable enforcement, and consequent litigation costs for regulated parties.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
This bill bars private equity firms and other designated “vulture investors” from buying, controlling, or using abusive business practices in youth sports. It creates a statutory designation process that presumes many existing investors are vulture investors unless they file and obtain an FTC certification, bans enumerated harmful practices, requires divestiture on a set timetable for designated investors, creates civil and criminal penalties, gives broad enforcement powers to the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division, and sets up a Youth Sports Fund to receive disgorged monies and support reduced-cost participation and facility access. The law defines key terms (vulture investor, vulture practice, youth sports entity), authorizes injunctions, private lawsuits with treble damages, joint-and-several liability for controlling investors, and agency rulemaking and divestiture remedies without usual notice-and-comment procedures. Many deadlines, certification windows, and remedial authorities are tied to enactment or agency action after enactment.