NEWS RELEASE: Senator Moody Rallies to Make College Sports Great Again

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Senator Ashley Moody has a game plan to improve college sports, through cosponsoring the Student Athlete Act of 2026. This act would establish a uniform national framework for college athletics by standardizing eligibility, transfer rules, and scholarship protections. Under the current system athletes right out of high school are often asked to compete against players much older than traditional college students. Additionally, many players transfer every year creating chaos on rosters and confusion among fans:

"We cannot sit back while college sports become unregulated professional free agency in a university jersey. Seventeen-year-olds are being asked to compete against 25-year-olds, and players are hopping from school to school each year, chasing money instead of excellence. The system is broken, the playing field is no longer level, and we must pass the Student Athlete Act to begin to restore fairness, accountability, and integrity. We're working to make college sports great again," said Senator Ashley Moody.

BACKGROUND:

• The Student Athlete Act of 2026 guarantees athletes five consecutive years of play eligibility, regardless of injury or other interruptions.
• The bill also helps reduce constant movement of athletes between schools, by limiting frequent school transfers by allowing one transfer without penalty, and generally requiring students to sit out a year if they transfer again.
• The bill also requires institutions to honor scholarship commitments, shifts that responsibility to a new school upon transfer, grants the NCAA limited antitrust protection to enforce transfer rules, and preempts conflicting state laws to ensure consistent rules across all institutions.
• The Student Athlete Act of 2026 would create a more stable environment where students can focus on both academics and athletics. Read bill text here.

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