If athletes' pay is going to be capped, should coaches' pay be capped too? That's the question behind a new amendment to the Protect College Sports Act. On Sept. 23, On3 reported that Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) proposed capping college coaching salaries at $5 million a year.
The proposal
The amendment would set a $5 million annual ceiling on coaching salaries under the pending federal bill. Booker and Murphy have opposed the bill through its procedural votes, and their amendment is one of more than 35 proposed changes, per On3.
On3 reported that most of those amendments, including this one, were "not expected to be adopted before the bill goes before the Senate for a formal vote." The bill has already cleared three procedural votes.
The numbers behind it
A $5 million cap would hit a lot of people. Per On3:
- 46 FBS head coaches earn at least $5 million a year.
- 15 FBS head coaches make $10 million or more.
- Georgia's Kirby Smart leads the way at $13.3 million, followed by Indiana's Curt Cignetti and LSU's Lane Kiffin at $13 million each.
Why the debate exists
The Protect College Sports Act would put federal structure around athlete compensation, including enforcement of the House settlement's revenue-sharing cap and rules against NIL deals designed to get around it. The coach salary amendment raises an obvious question: if athletes' pay has limits, why not coaches' pay? It arrived a day after Republican Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville proposed a separate hard cap on athlete revenue sharing that would include associated entities like NIL collectives, per On3.
The bill's backers point to what it adds for athletes, including a retention fund that would let a school spend an additional $22.5 million a year above the revenue-sharing cap to keep its own athletes, according to the Senate Commerce Committee's summary.
Where spending already stands
The debate lands as school spending on rosters keeps climbing. On Sept. 16, On3 relayed The Athletic's estimates of Power Four roster budgets for 2026, combining revenue sharing and NIL, built from more than 70 sources across college football. The top five:
- Ohio State: $49–54 million
- Oregon: $48–54 million
- Texas: $45–55 million
- LSU: $47–50 million
- Texas A&M: $45–50 million
Those are estimates, not official figures, but they show how far top programs have moved past the initial $20.5 million revenue-sharing allowance by adding NIL money.
What it means for fans
Fans tend to have strong opinions about who's worth what. Some will argue coaches build programs and earn every dollar. Others will point out that players are the ones fans actually pay to watch. The amendment isn't expected to be adopted, but it's pushing that conversation into the open.
What's clear is that the economics of college sports are now being debated on the Senate floor. Whatever the final bill looks like, the question of who gets paid what, and who sets the limits, isn't going away.