Hoeven backs bipartisan bill to reshape college sports

(Valley News Live) – Sen. John Hoeven on Monday promoted a bipartisan bill he says would bring more fairness and stability to college sports by reining in athlete pay, transfers and conference realignment.

At a news conference in Washington, Hoeven outlined the Protect College Sports Act, which he said is meant to address problems created by a patchwork of state laws and court rulings, including a 2025 House v. NCAA settlement that allows schools to pay student-athletes directly.

Hoeven said that settlement has put smaller and less wealthy schools at a competitive disadvantage, encouraged abuse of the transfer portal, and pushed schools to steer more money to football and men’s basketball at the expense of other sports.

“The current situation facing college sports is unsustainable and unfair,” Hoeven said in a statement. “This legislation will restore the integrity of college sports … and ensure all schools are competing on a level playing field.”

Hoeven was joined by North Dakota State University President Marshall Stewart, University of North Dakota President Andrew Armacost, NDSU Athletics Director Matt Larsen and UND Athletics Director Bill Chaves.

The bill, introduced by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would set national standards intended to:

Protect student-athletes from deceptive practices by schools or agents.
Safeguard athletes’ name, image and likeness (NIL) rights while allowing them to retain scholarships and institutional support.
Bar professional athletes from competing in college sports.
Create new funding incentives to preserve women’s and Olympic sports.

The measure would also seek to “level the playing field” among schools by:

Capping how much schools can pay athletes.
Establishing enforceable rules on recruitment, tampering and NIL disclosures.
Limiting transfers, while guaranteeing athletes one undergraduate transfer without losing eligibility in most cases.
Allowing sanctions against agents who facilitate player poaching or recruiting tampering.
Prohibiting football coaches from leaving midseason to take another college job.
Restricting so-called “Super League” consolidation by blocking conferences with more than $700 million in revenue from merging with or acquiring other leagues, and by capping conference size at 19 members.

The bill would create uniform eligibility rules, including a five-year cap on playing time starting from enrollment or the academic year after a student’s 19th birthday, whichever comes first. Athletes could lose eligibility for entering professional sports or failing to meet academic standards.

It would also require Division I schools to cover out-of-pocket medical costs for sports-related injuries and mandate health and safety standards for all athletic programs.

To preserve fan access, the proposal requires at least one free local broadcast option for football and men’s basketball games in each school’s home market.

Hoeven said he has agreed to become an official cosponsor after reviewing the legislation with NDSU and UND leaders. He said he will work with colleagues to bring the bill to a full Senate vote in September.