Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are expected to introduce an amended college sports bill, a source told On3’s Pete Nakos. The Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act could be introduced as early as Thursday.

The bill – which codifies the House v. NCAA settlement – could easily pass the House of Representatives, but would need seven Democratic votes to pass the Senate. If introduced Thursday, the first subcommittee markup could come as early as next Tuesday, and a committee markup would happen by the end of the month.

Last month, Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) released a discussion draft of the bill. They described it as a “tri-committee effort to stabilize” the NIL marketplace.

“As a part of a coordinated multi-Committee effort to improve the student-athlete experience and preserve the educational mission of the institutions they represent, Energy and Commerce plans to consider a discussion draft to help address the broad set of challenges facing college athletics,” Guthrie said in a statement.

“NIL presents outstanding opportunities for student-athletes, but the volatility and frequency of changes have left both teams and players without a reliable foundation on which to plan. I want to thank Chairman Bilirakis for his hard work on this issue and this draft, and I am hopeful that upcoming conversations can build a strong coalition and make college athletics the best it can be.”

The amended version of the act, obtained by Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger, would grant liability protection and preempt state NIL laws. It would also include an anti-employment clause and usher in regulation for agents. NIL deals would also need to hold a “valid business purpose.”

More on the NCAA’s push for federal legislation

Following approval of the House v. NCAA settlement, another college sports bill was introduced. U.S. Representatives Lisa McClain (R-Mich.)and Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.) introduced the “College Student-Athlete Protections and Opportunities through Rights, Transparency and Safety Act“, dubbed the College SPORTS Act.

President Donald Trump has also shown interest in the future of college sports and was in the process of forming a commission earlier this year. Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Texas Tech board chairman Cody Campbell – who founded the school’s NIL collective, The Matador Club – were expected to co-chair the commission. However, the plans were paused last month amid an anticipated push for federal legislation.

Trump also reportedly considered an executive order regarding college sports. That came about after he met with Saban at a commencement event at Alabama in May.

Due to an undisclosed health issue, college football fans haven’t heard much from Colorado coach Deion Sanders this offseason.

However, that changed on Wednesday as Sanders was on hand for the Big 12 Media Days in Frisco, Texas. The third-year head coach, who is coming off a 9-4 season in 2024, discussed everything from Colorado’s quarterback battle, his theme music and what is going wrong with college football.

Oddly enough, while the latter may be the most complex, it was the only one for which he had a definitive answer. When asked about how NIL should be patrolled with the implementation of revenue, Sanders did what he does best: he said what everyone is thinking but not willing to say.

“I wish it was a cap,” Sanders said. “You know, like the top of the line player makes this. And if you’re not that type of guy, you know you’re not gonna make that. That’s what the NFL does. So the problem is you got a guy that’s not that darn good. He could go to another school and they give him a half a million dollars. You can’t compete with that, it don’t make sense … All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent and you understand darn near why they in the playoffs.

“It’s kind of hard to compete with somebody who’s giving $25-30 million to a darn freshman class.”

Colorado coach Deion Sanders thinks one radical change could help address the NIL issues that continue to go unaddressed around college football.

Speaking at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday, Sanders was asked how he believes NIL should be handled by the NCAA. The coach essentially called for some sort of salary cap to create some parity across the sport.

“I wish there was a cap. The top of the line player makes this, and if you’re not that type of guy, you know you’re not going to make that. That’s what the NFL does,” Sanders said. “The problem is, you’ve got a guy that’s not that darn good, but he can go to another school, and they give him a half a million dollars. You can’t compete with that.

“All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent. You understand darn well why they’re in the playoffs. It’s kind of hard to compete with someone who’s getting $25-$30 million to a darn freshman class. It’s crazy. We’re not complaining, because all these coaches up here and coach their butts off … but what’s going on right now don’t make sense. We want to say stuff, but we’re trying to be professional.”

“All you gotta do is look at the [CFP] and see what those teams spent, and you’ll understand darn well why they’re in the playoffs.”

Deion Sanders on NIL and the current state of college football. pic.twitter.com/y6A5C3dWUP

— ESPN (@espn) July 9, 2025

Sanders’ point is that teams with the most NIL funds available to them are inevitably going to land the best players and make the playoffs repeatedly. NIL creates plenty of other problems and nudges players to transfer sometimes, but the wealth is not exactly being spread around.

We have seen that a big NIL budget is no guarantee of success. There is no doubt, however, that it helps. The irony is that Sanders used the transfer portal to establish his program nationally, but there is only so much he can do now that other programs are catching up.

NIL has dramatically altered the college sports landscape. Now that colleges are allowed to pay student-athletes, players can often go to the highest bidder — usually a Power 5 program. That’s why Colorado head coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is calling for a salary cap in college football.

Speaking at Big 12 Media Day on Wednesday, Sanders explained why schools without deep financial resources are at a disadvantage when trying to attract elite talent.

“I wish there was a cap. Like, the top-of-the-line player makes this, and if you’re not that type of guy, you know you’re not going to make that. That’s what the NFL does,” said Sanders.

“So the problem is, you got a guy that’s not that darn good, but he could go to another school and they give him a half-a-million dollars. You can’t compete with that. And it don’t make sense.”

Deion Sanders says he wishes college football had a salary cap, like the NFL does:

“All you gotta do is look at the College Football Playoff and see what those teams spent, and you’ll understand darn well why they’re in the playoffs.”pic.twitter.com/tWaO8t8Ze2

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) July 9, 2025

Sanders pointed to the programs that routinely make the College Football Playoff — like Alabama, Texas, and Ohio State — as examples of schools that can afford to spend tens of millions on incoming freshman classes. That kind of financial muscle, he said, creates a lopsided playing field

“All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent and you understand darn near why they’re in the playoffs,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to compete with somebody who’s giving $25–30 million to a darn freshman class. It’s crazy.”

Sanders continued: “What’s going on right now don’t make sense. We want to say stuff but we’re trying to be professional, but you’re going to see the same teams darn near the end, with somebody who sneaks up in there, but the teams that pays the most is going to be there in the end.”

Colorado had two of the highest NIL earners in college football in 2024 in Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, who are now in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns, respectively. The university also shut down its NIL collective before the House v. NCAA settlement, which now allows schools to directly pay athletes across all sports a combined $22 million annually.

In his second season at Colorado, Deion Sanders led the Buffaloes to a 9–4 record after going 4–8 in his first year. It was a solid 2024 campaign — Hunter won the Heisman Trophy, and Colorado finished 25th in the final AP Top 25 poll. However, with the departures of Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, expectations have cooled for the 2025 season.

Matt Higgins worked in national and local news for 15 years. He started out as an overnight production assistant … More about Matt Higgins