Antitrust Exemptions and What it Would Mean for College Sports

Antitrust Exemptions and What it Would Mean for College Sports

By Hunter DeSantis

On May 27, 2026, Yahoo Sports’ Senior College Football Reporter, Ross Dellenger, reported that Senators Maria Cantwell and Ted Cruz struck a deal in landmark bipartisan legislation to regulate college sports. The bill has been titled the Protect College Sports Act, and would include an antitrust exemption related to athlete transfers, eligibility, and a hard salary cap.

You have likely heard a lot about the NCAA’s long sought after antitrust exemption, but you may also be wondering what that exemption means for college sports. The NCAA has pursued an antitrust exemption as a way for them to regain control over college sports and to ensure they are able to enforce NCAA rules and regulations. Following the House settlement, which was officially implemented on July 1, 2025, college athletes were finally allowed to be compensated directly by their respective universities. While the House settlement did help to resolve some issues in college sports, it also created a bevy of new problems.

First, the settlement was met with a host of legal challenges by former or current NCAA athletes. Those lawsuits included claims the NCAA violated Title IX by disproportionately favoring male athletes or male sports, claims pertaining to new mandatory roster limits, claims alleging violation of antitrust laws and compensation caps, and claims the terms of the settlement conflicted with various different existing state laws.

Second, the power conference schools who were parties to the settlement simply do not wish to be governed. As part of the House settlement, a new governing body known as the College Sports Commission (CSC) was created to help enforce the new rules and regulations created by the settlement. Thus far, the CSC has been a failure. Not only has the CSC failed to efficiently operate as a clearing house for all third-party NIL deals greater than $599, but many universities and state attorneys general refuse to sign the Participation Agreement proposed by the CSC. Essentially, the proposed Participation Agreement is the mechanism the CSC created to grant itself the authority to enforce the rules and regulations created by the House settlement. Thus far, the CSC has failed to secure widespread adoption of the Participation Agreement, and the majority of Power Four Conference schools have refused to sign the Agreement, although the Big 12 recently became the first conference to unanimously ratify the Participation Agreement.

The resulting legal challenges and the failure to secure participation from all Power Four Conference schools have further reinforced the NCAA’s desire for an antitrust exemption. If the NCAA is provided an antitrust exemption, even if it is a limited exception as reported by Ross Dellenger, it could regulate NIL, compensation, and revenue sharing on a national level. Further, they could create uniform recruiting rules, regulate the transfer portal, and provide remedies when players and coaches violate their contracts. With an antitrust exemption, the NCAA’s decisions would no longer leave them subject to additional lawsuits stemming from those decisions. While many people may believe an antitrust exemption is the only path forward to save college sports, antitrust exemptions are historically antithesis to free market competition.

For years, the NCAA operated a system that was in clear violation of antitrust law. Challenge after challenge were levied against the NCAA, yet the NCAA refused to adjust its governance system and relied solely upon the outdated provisions of amateurism. Now, after the entire system has come crashing down around them, the NCAA’s solution is to ask Congress for an antitrust exemption. At the end of the day, an antitrust exemption would allow the NCAA to suppress athlete compensation and rip back years of progress that has been made for college athletes. While protecting the status quo is certainly a factor that should be considered when evaluating the future of college sports, the long-term effects of an antitrust exemption must also be weighed when making that calculation.