I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5693 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit certain private- 
equity and sovereign wealth fund agreements involving intercollegiate athletics. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 6, 2025 
Mr. BAUMGARTNER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit 
certain private-equity and sovereign wealth fund agree-
ments involving intercollegiate athletics. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect College Sports 
from Private Equity and Foreign Influence Act’’ or the 
‘‘PROTECT Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Intercollegiate athletics are conducted under 
the auspices of nonprofit institutions of higher edu-
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cation and, when properly governed, promote stu-
dent development, campus life, community identity, 
and broad public engagement in education—benefits 
that constitute a public good aligned with the edu-
cational missions those institutions are chartered to 
serve. 
(2) Intercollegiate athletics generate billions of 
dollars in revenue annually through national media 
contracts, sponsorships, and ticket sales that span 
multiple States, creating a significant impact on 
interstate commerce. 
(3) Public institutions of higher education are 
financed and supported by taxpayers through direct 
appropriations, tax-exempt status, subsidized Fed-
eral student aid, and tax-advantaged debt, and 
therefore have a heightened obligation to ensure that 
institutional assets—including intercollegiate ath-
letics programs and facilities—are managed for pub-
lic benefit and student welfare rather than private 
enrichment. 
(4) Agreements that convey ownership, revenue- 
sharing, control rights, or security interests in inter-
collegiate athletics to private equity, hedge funds, or 
similar vehicles are inherently conflicted, create pres-
sure to maximize short-term cash flows at the ex-
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pense of educational and Title IX obligations, and 
risk extracting wealth from publicly supported insti-
tutions and their students—undermining trans-
parency, accountability, and the public purposes for 
which those institutions exist. 
SEC. 3. PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENTS. 
Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(30) PROHIBITION ON PRIVATE-CAPITAL AND 
SOVEREIGN
WEALTH
AGREEMENTS
INVOLVING 
INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS.— 
‘‘(A) As a condition of eligibility under this 
title, an institution shall not enter into, main-
tain, or permit any agreement with a private 
capital firm or a sovereign wealth fund that— 
‘‘(i) transfers, assigns, pledges, or 
otherwise conveys to such firm or fund any 
ownership, profit, net-revenue, or gross- 
revenue interest arising from the institu-
tion’s intercollegiate athletics program, in-
cluding 
media, 
sponsorship, 
licensing, 
ticketing, premium seating, data, or other 
commercial rights; 
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‘‘(ii) grants such firm or fund control 
rights over athletics decisions, institutional 
branding, scheduling, personnel, or student 
participation; or 
‘‘(iii) establishes a joint venture, new 
entity, or other agreement through which 
such firm or fund receives any share of, or 
any interest in, athletics-related revenues 
or rights, including licensing and merchan-
dising rights, or athletics facilities or re-
lated real property including any leasehold, 
sublease, concession, easement, mortgage, 
deed of trust, lien, or similar property in-
terest. 
‘‘(B) 
EXCEPTIONS.—Subparagraph 
(A) 
shall not apply to: 
‘‘(i) fee-for-service contracts for dis-
crete services; 
‘‘(ii) charitable contributions, gifts or 
grants; 
‘‘(iii) tax-exempt bond financings or 
lease-purchase agreements with govern-
mental units or §501(c)(3) conduit issuers 
that do not convey revenue interests or 
control rights to a private capital firm; or 
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‘‘(iv) 
sponsorships 
or 
advertising 
agreements that provide brand placement 
without revenue-sharing or control. 
‘‘(C) CONFERENCE AND AFFILIATE COV-
ERAGE.—An institution shall ensure compliance 
with this paragraph for any agreement entered 
by an athletics conference, media-rights consor-
tium, or other affiliate that allocates, assigns, 
or encumbers the institution’s athletics-related 
revenues or rights. 
‘‘(D) COLLECTIVES AND CONTROLLED EN-
TITIES.—This paragraph applies to any collec-
tive, foundation, affiliate, or separate legal enti-
ty that is directly or indirectly owned, con-
trolled, or operated by the institution or its ath-
letics department. 
‘‘(E) CERTIFICATION AND DISCLOSURE.— 
The Secretary shall require annual program 
participation agreement certification that the 
institution and its affiliates have not entered 
into any agreement described under subpara-
graph (A) and shall require public disclosure of 
all agreements relying on an exception under 
subparagraph (B). 
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‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 
paragraph: 
‘‘(i) PRIVATE
CAPITAL
FIRM.—The 
term ‘private capital firm’ means (I) a 
hedge fund or private equity fund as those 
terms 
are 
defined 
in 
U.S.C. 
§1851(h)(2), (II) a private fund as defined 
in 15 U.S.C. § 80b–2(a)(29), and (III) any 
investment adviser (as defined in 15 
U.S.C. § 80b–2(a)(11)) that advises a fund 
described in subclause (I) or (II). 
‘‘(ii) CONTROL
RIGHTS.—The term 
‘control rights’ includes consent, veto, or 
approval rights over budgets, hiring, sched-
uling, competition, branding, or strategic 
decisions; or other rights to assume or di-
rect management or operations of an inter-
collegiate athletics program or athletics fa-
cility. 
‘‘(iii) INTERCOLLEGIATE
ATHLETICS 
PROGRAM.—The term ‘intercollegiate ath-
letics program’ includes teams, depart-
ments, conferences, media or data rights, 
ticketing and premium seating, sponsor-
ships, licensing and merchandising, and 
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athletics facilities used primarily for inter-
collegiate varsity sports competition. 
‘‘(iv) SOVEREIGN
WEALTH
FUND.— 
The term ‘sovereign wealth fund’ means an 
investment fund owned or controlled by a 
foreign state, an agency or instrumentality 
of a foreign state (as defined in 28 U.S.C. 
§1603), or an agent of a foreign principal 
(as defined in 22 U.S.C. §611). 
‘‘(G) TRANSITION.—Agreements in effect 
on the date of enactment shall be brought into 
compliance or terminated not later than 24 
months after such date. No agreement may be 
renewed or extended except in compliance with 
this paragraph. 
‘‘(H) RULEMAKING.—The Secretary of 
Education shall issue regulations to carry out 
this paragraph after consultation with the Sec-
retary of the Treasury and the Securities and 
Exchange Commission; and shall, to the max-
imum extent practicable, harmonize such regu-
lations with definitions and interpretations 
under the Federal securities laws.’’. 
Æ 
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