Washington, D.C. — Following the U.S. Senate’s passage of the Protect College Sports Act (S. 4668), a legislative loophole that backtracks on the U.S. Supreme Court’s pivotal 2021 Alston ruling, which holds the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to federal antitrust laws, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement:

“For decades, the NCAA operated as a cartel. Schools colluded to cap athletes’ pay and restrict their movement, hiding behind the myth of amateurism. In 2021, the Supreme Court’s Alston decision ended that charade by noting that the organization was subject to federal antitrust laws. Athletes could finally do what every American is encouraged to do: sell their talent on the open market. But the people who got rich off the old system aren’t having it,” said Katherine Van Dyck, Senior Legal Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Dressed up as ‘saving college sports,’ this bill creates rules that allow the NCAA to operate outside of standard antitrust laws and in doing so locks in a cap on player pay and mobility and piles on bureaucracy, while leaving multimillion-dollar coaching salaries untouched.” 

“Most of these athletes will never go pro,” Van Dyck continued. “They’ll leave with injuries and lost earning years while billion-dollar athletic departments cash in on their bodies. The NCAA and the richest schools and conferences want pro-level profits without paying pro-level wages. Congress has no business handing a cartel its own antitrust exemption.” 

The bill turns years of hard-won legal victories for college athletes into a congressional bailout for the institutions that refuse to adapt to a new economy where their labor is no longer free. 

Under the bill the following will happen: 

Immunity for Wage-Fixing: Title I shields the NCAA, conferences, and schools from antitrust liability when they adopt and enforce the bill’s rules, including a cap on what schools can pay athletes and new limits on transfers and eligibility. Athletes who cannot collectively bargain lose the one tool that has won them real gains in court.

Higher Costs for Fans: Title II amends the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 to let schools and conferences pool and sell their media rights free from antitrust scrutiny. A law written for free, over-the-air broadcasts in the 1960s would now give college sports’ biggest programs more leverage over networks and streaming platforms. Those costs will land on fans, who already pay more every year for cable and streaming subscriptions just to watch their teams.

A False Promise to Universities: The bill’s sponsors claim it will rescue universities from a financial crisis and save Olympic and women’s sports. It won’t. The PCSA caps what schools can pay athletes but places no limit on what they spend on coaches’ salaries or facilities, the real drivers of the spending arms race. It also piles significant new compliance and administrative costs onto schools and conferences. The only line in an athletic department’s budget the bill actually controls is the one that goes to athletes.

“There is a better path that existing law already provides,” Van Dyck said. “If the NCAA and major conferences want rules that hold up, they should come to the bargaining table and negotiate with athletes, like nearly every other sports league in the United States.”

Read more about the myths surrounding the Protect College Sports Act here. 

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.