College Sports Close to Landmark Congressional Help with New SCORE Act

College Sports Close to Landmark Congressional Help with New SCORE Act

College athletics could be on the verge of a legislative breakthrough that many administrators and stakeholders have long been calling for. The House v. NCAA settlement earlier this year ushered in a new era of revenue-sharing for college sports, allowing athletes to finally receive direct compensation from their schools. But as historic as that development was, it left behind a trail of uncertainty  legal, financial, and logistical  that no individual conference or university could solve alone.

Now, that much-needed help may be coming from Washington.

This week, members of the U.S. House of Representatives are scheduled to introduce a wide-ranging piece of legislation known as the SCORE Act (short for “Strengthening College Opportunities and Rights through Empowerment”). According to a report from Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, the Act is “on track to progress further than any all-encompassing athlete compensation legislation” we’ve seen in the NIL era.

The bill, as described in an amended version obtained by Yahoo, seeks to codify the House v. NCAA settlement, granting federal legal protection to the new system. Among its headline features:

• Liability protection for the NCAA and member institutions
• Preemption of state NIL laws, creating a uniform national standard
• An anti-employment clause to prevent athletes from being classified as employees
• Federal regulation of agents and third parties involved in NIL
• Requirements for athlete degree completion support and post-graduate healthcare

It’s the kind of comprehensive legislation college athletics leaders have dreamed about since NIL became a reality in 2021  a way to bring order to the chaos.

What This Means for College Sports

If passed, the SCORE Act would effectively become the legal backbone for the future of college sports. The NCAA and the newly formed College Sports Commission (CSC) would be given real enforcement power  allowing them to require athletes to disclose NIL deals, punish violations of the one-time transfer rule, and impose clearer standards for agent behavior.

Until now, the NIL era has functioned in a kind of legal gray zone  with schools left to interpret evolving state laws, and with the NCAA hesitant to overstep for fear of more lawsuits. The House v. NCAA settlement was a massive first step in bringing athletes into the revenue equation, but the long-term sustainability of that model has remained in question.

This bill aims to address those questions directly.

A United Front… Finally?

Support for the SCORE Act appears to be growing. According to Dellenger, Power Conference commissioners  along with many of their schools  are committed to making the current structure work. And that includes a recognition that Congressional involvement is not only helpful, but necessary.

The pressure has been mounting for years. College leaders have repeatedly traveled to Washington to lobby for a federal NIL standard. Their argument has been simple: without Congressional action, the patchwork of state laws will continue to create recruiting advantages and regulatory confusion.

But now, with a billion-dollar settlement on the table and revenue-sharing set to begin as early as the 2025–26 academic year, time is running out to put real guardrails in place.

What’s Next?

Of course, there are still political hurdles ahead. Any bill that touches employment rights, healthcare, and interstate commerce is bound to face scrutiny. There will be debates likely fierce ones  about the anti-employment clause, especially as broader conversations about athlete unionization continue to simmer.

But the mere fact that the SCORE Act is being introduced  with bipartisan backing and serious momentum  signals a shift.

College sports, long mired in legal limbo and institutional hesitation, could be on the brink of its most stable and clearly defined era since the dawn of NIL.

And that era may begin not on the courts or fields of play, but in the halls of Congress.