Tommy Tuberville called protecting women's sports "the civil rights issue of our time" – and this week the Senate finally has to vote.
Ted Cruz just made sure the bill on the floor cannot be used against the states that already banned men from competing against women.
And Ted Cruz just closed the loophole that could have wrecked state women’s sports laws.
Cruz Plugged the Hole Democrats and the NCAA Were Counting On
The Protect College Sports Act was always a good bill.
Transfer portal chaos. Fake NIL deals. Pro players cycling back into college rosters.
Cruz's legislation addressed all of it.
Then conservatives noticed a problem.
The bill's original language preempted conflicting state laws – a standard provision in federal legislation.
But women's sports advocates pointed out that an activist judge could use that preemption clause to gut the state bans on biological males competing against girls.
Senators Josh Hawley, Jim Banks, and Tommy Tuberville filed an amendment to close that gap.
The pressure worked.
https://twitter.com/EmmasLastStand/status/2099409397592252833?s=20
The authors revised the language.
The White House Counsel's office confirmed it in writing: the Protect College Sports Act "would not preempt state laws prohibiting men from participating in women's sports."
Cruz said it plainly at a recent event.
"This bill does absolutely nothing to undermine the laws states have passed protecting women's sports. We made modifications to the language to make it clear. We leave that issue to the states. That is a very deliberate decision," he said.
What the Bill Actually Does
Five hundred thousand college athletes are currently living in a system with no rules.
The transfer portal – created in 2018 to give athletes a cleaner way to switch schools – became a revolving door the moment the NCAA lost its antitrust fight in 2024 and was forced to allow unlimited transfers with no waiting period.
Some athletes have now transferred four or five times.
Players with zero remaining eligibility are throwing their names into the portal hoping ongoing legal challenges hand them extra years.
Cruz put it directly: every athlete who transfers multiple times is "much less likely to get a degree, much less likely to get an education, much less likely to get the enormous benefit that you get from competing in college athletics."
The Protect College Sports Act limits athletes to one free transfer.
https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/2098804956388012149?s=20
Additional transfers are allowed if a coach leaves, a program gets canceled, or an athlete is a victim of sexual assault or harassment.
Transferring outside those conditions means sitting out a year.
The bill also sets a universal eligibility standard – five years of competition, capped at age 24.
That ends the creep of older athletes cycling through college rosters and crowding out 18-year-olds who earned their spots.
NIL Is a Rigged Game and Everyone Knows It
Right now, some walk-on from a small town works four years to earn a starting spot – and loses it to a transfer paid under the table by a booster pretending to sell him an "endorsement deal."
That's not NIL.
That's a bidding war disguised as capitalism, and the kids without rich programs behind them get crushed.
The Protect College Sports Act guarantees every athlete the right to legitimate NIL revenue.
It cracks down on the fake deals, the booster fronts, the recruiting payments dressed up as business contracts.
Cruz called it making sure athletes are "entitled to enjoy the fruits of their labor" – not just the ones whose schools have the deepest-pocketed donors.
The NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee all support the bill.
The SEC and Big Ten – the two most powerful conferences in college athletics – publicly endorsed it last month, which is what finally moved Senate Majority Leader John Thune to schedule the vote.
The Vote Happens Now
The Senate returns today, September 15, and the Protect College Sports Act is locked in for a vote between now and September 23.
https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/2099683605899321769?s=20
The bill needs 60 votes to clear the Senate.
Cruz is confident he has them – eight bipartisan sponsors, White House backing, and every major sports league in the country lined up behind it.
Trump has already told the Senate to stop grandstanding and get it done.
The NCAA ran college sports into the ground for a decade.
And left unchecked, activist judges would have used federal preemption to erase the state laws keeping men out of women's sports.
Cruz fixed that. Trump is waiting to sign it.
The vote is this week.
It's time.
Sources:
- Virginia Grace McKinnon, "Cruz Ensures Protections for Women in College Sports Act," The Daily Signal, September 15, 2026.
- "White House Counsel Memo: PCSA Does Not Preempt State Women's Sports Laws," Senate Commerce Committee Press Release, August 7, 2026.
- "Senate Punts College Sports Bill to September," Front Office Sports, August 8, 2026.
- "Republican Senators File Amendment to Stop College Sports Bill from Overriding State Women's Sports Laws," Fox News/OutKick, 2026.
- "Protect College Sports Act Fails to Reach Vote, Gets Spot on Senate's September Calendar," The Score, August 2026.
