Sponsors (3)
Official title: Protect the name, image, and likeness rights of, and provide protections for, student athletes, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 29, 2025 by Maria E. Cantwell · Last progress September 29, 2025
The bill greatly expands college athletes’ earning rights, medical protections, mobility, and enforcement remedies under a uniform federal framework — but it also imposes substantial costs, administrative and litigation burdens, and risks widening resource-driven competitive gaps between wealthier and smaller programs.
College athletes nationwide can earn money from their name, image, and likeness under a clear federal framework (including legalized NIL collectives and endorsement rules), expanding direct earnings and reducing state-by-state confusion.
Student-athletes receive stronger medical protections: guaranteed coverage of out-of-pocket injury costs during participation and for five years after competition, catastrophic coverage for severe injuries, mental-health notifications, and medical-professional authority over return-to-play decisions.
Athletes keep more financial stability from scholarship protections and roster/security rules: grant-in-aid is protected except for narrow reasons, institutions must give notice before reducing aid and may reinstate cured awards, and non-revenue/women’s sports must be maintained at 2023–2024 levels.
Colleges, conferences, and associations face substantially higher costs (health coverage, compliance, staffing, reporting, and distribution obligations) that may be passed on to students, taxpayers, or lead to program cuts.
The law creates new litigation and administrative burdens — expanded private/state/Federal enforcement, treble damages and fee awards, bans on pre-dispute arbitration/class‑waivers, and extensive reporting — increasing legal exposure and compliance costs for institutions and nonprofits.
Wealthy programs and donor-funded NIL collectives are likely to advantage top athletes disproportionately, risking competitive imbalance and unequal access for athletes at smaller or lower-funded schools.
Based on analysis of 24 sections of legislative text.
Establishes federal protections for college athletes' NIL, transfer/draft rights, health and post‑eligibility coverage, FTC enforcement, collective media‑rights rules, and limited F‑1 NIL work authorization.
Establishes a federal framework that protects and expands college student‑athletes’ rights to monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL), limits institutions’ ability to restrict transfers and draft entry, requires health, safety, and post‑eligibility medical coverage standards, and creates enforcement and oversight primarily through the Federal Trade Commission. The bill also amends broadcasting law to allow association‑level collective sale of college media rights with local outlet protections, authorizes F‑1 student athletes to be paid for NIL activity, preempts conflicting state laws, and creates athlete ombuds offices and antidiscrimination protections at events.