​With a bipartisan 77-22 vote, the U.S. Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act on Monday, Sept. 28.The bill now heads to the House, which is expected to take it up after the Nov. 3 midterm elections. It would then be moved to the desk of President Trump, who has signaled he would sign it.The piece of legislation, written by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), would represent a landmark law regarding the NCAA’s ability to enforce rules and could potentially provide sweeping changes to the landscape of college athletics. It would give the NCAA and its conferences a limited antitrust exemption to set and enforce rules on athlete eligibility, transfers and pay, and would override conflicting state-level name, image and likeness laws.The revenue-sharing cap on what schools can pay student-athletes would rise from $21.3 million to $48.8 million and include a $22.5 million fund for keeping current players and up to $5 million for women’s and Olympic sports. It would also limit players to a single transfer without sitting out a season, bar coaches from leaving for a different school during the season, cap agent fees at 5% and guarantee scholarships for 10 years following an athlete’s final season.The antitrust exemption is akin to those given to professional sports leagues and would restrain lawsuits and legal challenges the NCAA has faced in recent years.“It would be nice if college sports could somehow magically fix itself, but this is a matter of law, federal law, and only Congress can fix it,” Cruz said recently during a speech promoting the bill. “Now I know some argue that college sports are doing just fine. They point to high television ratings, enthusiastic fan bases, and packed stadiums. But popularity does not demonstrate that the system is healthy. It simply proves that the system is worth saving.”Despite the widespread approval, the bill is not without its detractors.“This is a bill not about college athletes,” said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) during a floor speech before Monday’s vote. “This is a bill about wealthy people. Wealthy coaches, wealthy institutions, and an NCAA who’s enjoyed unbridled power for decades as we watch discrimination, hardships, injustice, and, finally, athletes started getting some power in the equation. And this body, after me trying for 10 to 15 years to get them to step in and help college athletes, this body rushes in to suddenly say ‘We’re protecting college athletes.’ Well, that is not true.”Booker previously played college football at Stanford. He is also part of a northeast contingent against the bill as no senator from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York or Rhode Island voted yes.While the bill had bipartisan support, most no votes came from Democrats — only two of the Senate’s 53 Republicans voted against it: Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.).The Democrats were more divided — out of the 45 Democrats and two independents