十校联盟和东南联盟于7月底支持该法案，但保守派对女子体育保护的反对阻碍了立法进程
2026年8月24日 美国东部时间12:01 / 福克斯新闻频道
作者：查德·珀格拉姆
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6403841903112
议员们仍在就姓名、形象和肖像权相关的拟议立法存在分歧
福克斯新闻首席国会记者查德·珀格拉姆在《特别报道》中分享了大学体育未来的最新进展。
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大学橄榄球赛季将于本周六拉开帷幕，北卡罗来纳大学将在爱尔兰都柏林对阵德克萨斯基督教大学。
这标志着一场冲刺的开始，直到次年4月初，大学橄榄球和篮球几乎每天都会与美国职业棒球大联盟、美国国家橄榄球联盟、美国职业篮球联赛和国家冰球联盟展开竞争。
本届大学橄榄球赛季开赛之际，议员们未能通过一项旨在改变大学体育资金流向的法案。尽管最近出现了推进势头，但议员们能否在4月5日底特律 NCAA 男篮最终四强赛开赛时成功通过该法案，仍是未知数。
《保护大学体育法案》在参议院深夜对峙中搁浅，混乱一夜后投票推迟至9月
NCAA 将于4月5日在底特律决出新一届男篮最终四强赛冠军。（盖蒂图片社）
特朗普总统曾要求参议院本月留会，通过一项两党合作的大学体育法案。但这根本不可能，因为法案尚未准备就绪。参议院9月复会后，该法案甚至连程序性投票的具体协议都未能达成。参议院商业委员会主席、得克萨斯州共和党议员特德·克鲁兹曾表示，双方已达成协议，将在某个时间进行投票。然而，一项监管加密货币的无关法案敲定了9月15日周二下午进行程序性投票的具体时间。而大学体育法案并未在8月休会前获得这种程度的确定性。
但有一件事是确定的：大学体育面临着诸多问题。
“如今的大学体育正处于危机之中。这种混乱正在将大学体育拖向崩溃，”克鲁兹说道。
“我认为当前存在的军备竞赛——各方不惜一切代价从体系中掏钱——并非解决问题的正确方式，”华盛顿州民主党参议员玛丽亚·坎特韦尔说道。她是参议院商业委员会的资深民主党议员，与克鲁兹共同起草了这项两党法案。
时间紧迫，参议员特德·克鲁兹、玛丽亚·坎特韦尔力促十校联盟、东南联盟支持大学体育法案
2025年1月15日，在华盛顿特区参议院商业、科学与运输委员会的确认听证会前，得克萨斯州共和党议员特德·克鲁兹与华盛顿州民主党议员玛丽亚·坎特韦尔交谈。（塞缪尔·科鲁姆/盖蒂图片社）
该法案为运动员的薪酬（包括姓名、形象和肖像权）建立了全国统一标准，同时规定运动员在五年内最多可转学一次且不会丧失参赛资格。
但理解该法案的救济条款颇具挑战性。
“我读的时候觉得这法案相当晦涩难懂，”笔者在德克森参议院办公楼的走廊里对路易斯安那州共和党议员约翰·肯尼迪说道。
“确实晦涩难懂，”肯尼迪回应道，“而且这是法律术语。”
该法案提高了学校用于补偿运动员的资金上限，本质上允许“第三方实体”——如安德玛或耐克等运动鞋或装备制造商——向学校注入额外资金。
在当前体系下，橄榄球和男子篮球自然能获得大部分资金。但议员们担心，如果国会不介入，女子田径以及排球、长曲棍球和足球等小众项目可能会消失。
“大部分资金来自橄榄球，或许还有篮球，但主要是橄榄球，这些资金支撑着其他所有项目，”特拉华州民主党议员克里斯·库恩斯说道。
7月底，十校联盟和东南联盟——全美实力最强的两大大学体育联盟——宣布支持该法案，这项大学体育法案似乎迎来了推进势头。议员们可以随心所欲地起草法案，但恕我直言，除非十校联盟和东南联盟加入，否则该法案根本无法推进。
外界曾认为该大学体育法案可能在8月休会前进行程序性投票，但一群保守派人士称，该法案在保护女性运动员不与男性运动员同场竞技方面存在不足。
“这看起来像是一群诉讼律师起草的东西，”阿拉巴马州共和党议员汤米·图伯维尔说道，他曾是一级橄榄球教练，先后执教过密西西比大学、奥本大学、德克萨斯理工大学和辛辛那提大学。
大学如今急于取胜，但运动员和整个国家都将受损
阿拉巴马州共和党议员汤米·图伯维尔曾是一级橄榄球教练。（汤姆·威廉姆斯/CQ-罗尔公司 via 盖蒂图片社）
图伯维尔与印第安纳州共和党议员吉姆·班克斯、密苏里州共和党议员乔希·霍利联手起草了一份更严格的修正案。班克斯认为，该法案可能会破坏印第安纳州的法律，该法律将禁止跨性别男性参加K-12体育赛事的规定延伸至大学体育领域。班克斯表示，他担心克鲁兹和坎特韦尔提出的法案“会优先于印第安纳州的法律”。这位印第安纳州共和党人声称，他无法支持现行版本的法案。
然而，唐纳德·特朗普总统严厉驳斥了那些称该法案未能禁止男性在任何级别体育赛事中参加女子项目的人。
“我为保护女子运动员所做的工作无人能及——这项法案明确保护了27个州保护女子体育、禁止男性参加女子项目的法律。任何告诉你相反情况的人都在撒谎！”总统在真相社交平台上发文怒斥。
特朗普担心，如果不通过这项立法，“项目将被取消，女子和奥林匹克项目将消失，球迷们将被剥夺观赛权利，大学也将破产。”随后他呼吁参议院“留在华盛顿直至法案通过”。
尽管总统大力支持，但留会一事并未实现。不过，多亏了十校联盟和东南联盟，这项立法迎来了新的转机。
美国国会黑人议员团（CBC）反对该法案。在一份声明中，该议员团表示，该法案未能纳入“黑人运动员的视角”。
新泽西州民主党议员科里·布克是参议院中唯一一位曾打过一级橄榄球的球员，他在斯坦福大学司职近端锋。他反对该法案。
“很多人对该法案提出了实质性反对意见，这应该让我们所有人都停下来反思，”布克说道。
《保护大学体育法案》存在致命缺陷：它无法保护女性 | 莱利·盖恩斯
2026年7月15日，在华盛顿特区国会山，新泽西州民主党议员科里·布克与民主党参议院司法委员会成员一同出席新闻发布会，就代理司法部长托德·布兰奇的提名表态。（埃里克·李/盖蒂图片社）
因此，参议院在8月休会期间实质上搁置了该法案。正如任何体育迷所知，暂停比赛是必要的。球队可以借此重新调整，补水或补充运动饮料，球员们可以喘口气，教练可以制定特别战术带领球队取胜。
目前尚不清楚克鲁兹、坎特韦尔甚至特朗普会制定怎样的战术，也不确定是否能奏效。一些怀疑论者认为，参议院决定离开华盛顿却未敲定程序性投票的时间，可能会削弱法案的推进势头——相比之下，加密货币立法的程序性投票已敲定了具体时间。
俄克拉荷马大学上赛季在红区效率方面领跑全美。当球队将球推进到对方端区20码范围内时，该队得分达阵的概率超过97%。
97%是一个高得离谱的效率数据。上赛季美国国家橄榄球联盟的红区表现最佳的费城老鹰队，达阵得分率约为70%。
美国参议院并非橄榄球场，但很明显，这项监管大学体育的法案现已进入立法红区。许多立法法案都能推进到这一距离球门线如此之近的位置，但参议员们很少能像俄克拉荷马大学或费城老鹰队那样成功达阵得分。
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这就是为什么尽管推进势头稳定，但这次立法努力仍有可能搁浅。
查德·珀格拉姆目前担任福克斯新闻频道（FNC）首席国会记者。他于2007年9月加入该电视台，总部位于华盛顿特区。
Reporter’s Notebook: College sports bill enters legislative ‘red zone’ as season kicks off
Big Ten and SEC backed the measure in late July, but conservative objections over women’s sports protections blocked progress
August 24, 2026 12:01pm EDT / Fox News
By Chad Pergram
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6403841903112Lawmakers remain divided over proposed legislation on name, image and likeness rules
Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram shares where things stand on the future of college sports on ‘Special Report.’
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The college football season kicks off this Saturday with North Carolina playing Texas Christian University in Dublin, Ireland.
This marks the start of a sprint until early April when college football and basketball practically compete on a near-daily basis with MLB, the NFL, the NBA and NHL.
This college football season begins with lawmakers falling short of a goal to pass a bill to alter the flow of money in college sports. And despite recent momentum, lawmakers may be lucky to pass the bill when the clock shows zeroes on April 5 in Detroit and the NCAA crowns its next basketball Final Four champion.
PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT STALLS IN OVERNIGHT SENATE SHOWDOWN, VOTE PUSHED TO SEPTEMBER AFTER CHAOTIC EVENING
The NCAA crowns its next basketball Final Four champion on April 5 in Detroit.(Getty Images)
President Trump demanded that the Senate stay in session this month to pass a bipartisan college sports measure. That wasn’t going to happen simply because the bill’s not ready yet. The measure didn’t even secure a specific agreement for a test vote when the Senate returns in September. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said there was a deal for a vote at some point. However, an unrelated bill to regulate cryptocurrency marshaled a concrete time for a test vote on the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 15. The college sports measure didn’t head into the August recess with that level of certainty.
But the one thing that is certain? Intercollegiate athletics face myriad problems.
“College sports right now is in crisis. It is chaos that is ripping college sports apart,” said Cruz.
“I think that the arms race that exists now where people are just paying any amount of money from a system is not the right way to get this done,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. She’s the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee and helped craft the bipartisan legislation with Cruz.
CLOCK IS TICKING AS SENATORS TED CRUZ, MARIA CANTWELL PUSH FOR SEC, BIG TEN BUY-IN ON COLLEGE SPORTS BILL
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, talks to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., before a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 15, 2025.(Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
The measure establishes a national standard for athlete compensation — including NIL — for the use of name, image and likeness of athletes. It also limits them to one transfer without losing eligibility within a five-year window.
But understanding the bill’s remedies is challenging.
“[The bill] seemed pretty dense when I read it,” yours truly observed to Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., one afternoon in a hallway of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
“It’s dense as hell,” replied Kennedy. “And that’s a legal term.”
The measure raises the ceiling of money schools can use to compensate athletes. It essentially allows “third-party entities,” like athletic footwear or equipment manufacturers like Under Armour or Nike, to pipeline additional money to schools.
Naturally, football and men’s basketball score most of the money under the current system. But lawmakers worry that women’s athletics and smaller sports like volleyball, lacrosse and soccer could evaporate unless Congress intervenes.
“It’s the revenue from football and maybe basketball, but mostly football that funds everything else,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
The college sports bill seemed to gain traction in late July when the Big Ten and SEC — the most muscular of all college athletic conferences — announced their support of the legislation. Lawmakers could try to write a bill all they wanted, but with all due respect to the Mid-American Conference and Mountain West, the measure wouldn’t go anywhere unless the Big Ten and SEC were on board.
It was thought that the college sports package might get a test vote before the August recess, but a band of conservatives claimed the legislation fell short when it came to protecting women from competing against men.
“It looks like a bunch of trial lawyers drew this thing up,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a former Division I football coach who ran programs at Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech and Cincinnati.
UNIVERSITIES ARE DESPERATE TO WIN NOW, BUT ATHLETES AND THE NATION BOTH LOSE
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., was a Division I football coach.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Tuberville teamed up with Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to craft an amendment going further in the legislation. Banks believed that the bill could undercut Indiana state law, which extends prohibitions on biological males competing in K-12 sports to college athletics. Banks expressed concern that the Cruz/Cantwell bill “would preempt Indiana’s law.” The Indiana Republican asserted that he couldn’t support the legislation as written.
However, President Donald Trump torched those who said the bill failed to bar men from playing women’s sports at any level.
“Nobody has done more to protect Women Athletes than me — and this Bill CLEARLY protects the Laws in 27 States protecting Women’s Sports, and banning Men from Women’s Sports. Anyone who tells you differently is LYING!” thundered the president on Truth Social.
Trump worried that without adoption of this legislation, “Programs will be canceled, Women’s and Olympic Sports will go away, the fans will be robbed, and Universities will go broke.” He then asked the Senate to “stay in D.C. until it passes.”
Despite the president’s advocacy, that wasn’t going to happen. However, the legislation does have a new set of downs — thanks to the Big Ten and SEC.
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) opposes the bill. In a statement, the CBC said the package fails to incorporate “perspectives of Black athletes.”
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is the only former Division I football player in the Senate, competing as a tight end for Stanford. He opposes the bill.
“There are a lot of people who have substantive objections with that bill that should give us all pause,” said Booker.
THE “PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT” HAS A FATAL FLAW: IT DOESN’T PROTECT WOMEN | RILEY GAINES
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks alongside Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee members during a news conference on the nomination of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Capitol Hill on July 15, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Eric Lee/Getty Images)
So the Senate essentially took a timeout on the bill with the August recess. As any fan knows, timeouts are essential in sports. They allow teams to regroup. Rehydrate with water or Gatorade. Players to catch their breath. Coaches to draw up a special play to bring the team to victory.
It’s not known what the play call might be from Cruz, Cantwell or even Trump. Or if anything would work. Some skeptics believe the Senate’s decision to leave Washington without the locked-in test vote could cost the bill momentum — compared to the deal dictating the test vote on the cryptocurrency legislation.
The University of Oklahoma led the nation in red-zone efficiency last season. The Sooners scored touchdowns more than 97% of the time when moving the ball within 20 yards of the end zone.
Ninety-seven percent is a ridiculously efficient figure. The Philadelphia Eagles were the NFL’s best red zone team last season, scoring touchdowns around 70% of the time.
The U.S. Senate is not the gridiron. But it’s clear that the bill to regulate college sports has now entered the legislative red zone. A lot of legislation gets this close to the goal line, but senators rarely enjoy the success of the Sooners or Eagles when it comes to punching it in.
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That’s why it’s possible that this legislative drive could stall — despite a steady march down the field.
Chad Pergram currently serves as Chief Congressional Correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
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