Statement on the U.S. Senate’s proposed amendments to the proposed Protect College Sports Act of 2026 August 6, 2026
The Drake Group applauds the United States Senate for recognizing the need for comprehensive federal legislation governing intercollegiate athletics. The legislation contains numerous provisions that provide important protections for college-athletes, including enhanced medical coverage, stronger academic safeguards, scholarship protections, improved health and safety standards, greater transparency in Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) transactions, and the establishment of an independent Student-Athlete Ombudsman.
Nevertheless, The Drake Group believes the legislation ultimately falls short of addressing the fundamental problem confronting higher education: a financially unsustainable cash transaction-based system of intercollegiate athletics that increasingly operates independent of—and often in conflict with—the educational mission of colleges and universities. When Congress returns in September to consider the bill (following postponement of a cloture vote on August 7), it has an historic opportunity not simply to manage today’s marketplace but to realign college athletics with the educational purposes for which it was created.
