President Donald Trump threw his full support behind the Protect College Sports Act, and the timing couldn’t be better. College sports have become a free-for-all of NIL bidding wars, transfer chaos, lawsuits, and rules that seem to change every time a lawyer finds a microphone. Trump posted on Truth Social:
College Sports, a Great American Institution that produces our many Athletes, Leaders, and Olympic Dominance, is a total “mess,” and everyone is saying that it must be fixed. After unending lawsuits and crazed rulings, there are virtually no limits anymore, and soon most Colleges won’t have Sports because each and every one of them will be bankrupt, never to be heard from again. Women’s Sports, and the Olympics, itself, are in the most danger from this catastrophic situation. College Sports are turning into Pro Sports, except with absolutely no rules, a result no one wants. University Presidents, Conference Commissioners, Student-Athletes, Coaches, and Athletic Directors all complained to me that it has become a disaster, after years of no action, and that Schools were losing Hundreds of Millions of Dollars a year. They compared it to a freight train that can’t be stopped!
That is why, a few months ago, I convened a Roundtable bringing together a World-Class Team of some of the best Sports Executives, Student-Athletes, and Political Leaders in our Country. The goal was to find a Bipartisan solution to fix the problem.
Based on these meetings and the expertise of the Leading Authorities, I signed an Executive Order, but I always said that the best solution was to get a Bipartisan Act of Congress to my desk in order to save a long and embarrassing ROAD THROUGH HELL for these Institutions. I’d like to thank Senators Ted Cruz, Eric Schmitt, Maria Cantwell, and Chris Coons, among others, for introducing the Protect College Sports Act. This Law resolves many of the most urgent issues challenging our Universities and Student-Athletes, stops the chaos and, most importantly, it may be the last chance to save College Sports, and Colleges themselves, before it’s too late.
The House has worked long and hard on this issue as well, and I am very grateful to Speaker Mike Johnson and Leader Steve Scalise for their work to fix this very major problem.
I urge the House and Senate to come together to pass a final Bipartisan Law, that I can sign this summer, that reflects the views and input of both Chambers. WE HAVE TO SAVE COLLEGE SPORTS! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP
Trump’s message was on-brand and direct: “We have to save college sports.” For once, Washington has a bill that tries to do exactly that.
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced the bill that would regulate payments to athletes, limit them to a single “free” transfer during their careers, and create a “Lane Kiffin Rule” restricting coaches from leaving programs during the season.
It’s trying to replace chaos with one national rulebook. It’s logical and common-sense thinking, but it fails THE NARRATIVE test, where boys can be girls and play girls sports.
College sports are sitting on cracked concrete. The NIL system has turned too many programs into donor auctions. The transfer portal lets rosters reshuffle like fantasy football.
Eligibility questions keep rolling into courtrooms; smaller schools can’t spend like football factories, and non-revenue sports often get pushed toward the cliff first. The NCAA says Division I and II schools provide nearly $4 billion in athletic scholarships each year to more than 196,000 student-athletes.
Trump’s executive order points to over 500,000 annual college athletic opportunities overall.
Nick Saban, the former Alabama head football coach, backed the bill during Senate testimony on June 3, warning that college sports need clear national rules because an endless stream of lawsuits and state-by-state laws can’t produce fair national competition. From the Associated Press:
“If you had the biggest, baddest Ferrari that you could ever have and it was going 150 miles an hour toward the Grand Canyon, somebody needs to tap the brakes. And I think that’s what we all need to do here,” Saban said in his opening remarks.
When one of the most successful coaches in college football history says the system is running hot, Congress might want to stop admiring the smoke and grab a hose.
Women athletes face a sharper problem; biological males competing in women’s divisions raises obvious fairness and safety concerns, no matter how loudly activists pretend otherwise.
Trump already signed an executive order in February 2025 stating that federal policy would oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports as a matter of “safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
The Protect College Sports Act builds on the same concern by putting women’s sports protections into the broader college reform fight.
The safety examples aren’t theoretical. Retired MMA fighter Fallon Fox, a transgender fighter who was born male, defeated Tamikka Brents in 2014.
He didn’t just beat her; he BEAT her: Brents suffered a concussion, an orbital bone fracture, and seven staples to her head.
Former Hiwassee Dam High School volleyball player Payton McNabb was struck in the head from a spike from a biological male pretending to be a girl during a 2022 match and suffered a concussion and a neck injury. Her athletic future changed in a single play.
Naturally, critics are lining up. Trump supports the idea, so a crowd that could find fascism in a box score will treat the bill like a threat to democracy and reducing women’s rights somehow.
The funny part is that legislation is bipartisan. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) worked together, and Coons and Schmitt joined them in supporting the bill.
The bill asks Congress to admit college sports can’t survive forever under lawsuits, booster money, shifting rosters, and political cowardice.
The bill caps most college eligibility at five years, allows one penalty-free transfer, limits agent fees, protects scholarships, and tries to stop the richest programs from simply swallowing the whole system.
The SEC and Big Ten oppose the current version, arguing it doesn’t go far enough to preempt state laws and may create more legal friction. The ACC and Big 12 have backed the push. In Washington-speak, the bill has enough support to be real and enough opposition to be interesting.
Congress has a narrow window; summer recess is coming, and the Senate needs 60 votes. Trump has already used executive action to push college sports toward order, but executive orders can only carry so much weight.
Lasting reform requires law. College sports teach discipline, teamwork, loyalty, and sacrifice to young men and women across the country. Congress can either protect that tradition now or explain later why it watched the entire thing buckle under money, politics, and fear.
College sports are being pulled apart by NIL chaos, transfer madness, and a refusal to protect women’s competition. VIP members get the sharper cuts, the more in-depth context, and the arguments the usual crowd would rather avoid. Use promo code FIGHT to save 60% today.
