Short version: The FTC is asking schools about agents, the Senate passed a 5 percent fee cap the House hasn't voted on, and Louisiana now makes agents register. For most high school and college deals, nobody checks the person in the middle yet.
Fewer people than you'd think. Here is who is looking at agents for high school and college athletes, as of October 19, 2026, and what each one can do.
The FTC is asking questions
On January 12, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission sent letters to 20 Division I schools. It asked when agents told each school that an athlete had signed with them, who the agents were, and whether anyone had complained.
Replies were due March 23. A law firm that read the requests says they reach back to every agency contract since July 1, 2021, in every sport. The FTC has not named the schools.
The law behind the letters is SPARTA, the Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act of 2004. The same firm called it "effectively dormant" since it passed. This is the FTC's first inquiry into agents under it.
SPARTA bars an agent from recruiting you with false promises or giving you or your family anything of value before you sign.
The agent must give you a written warning and tell your school within 72 hours of signing, or before your next game if that comes first.
The FTC's own blog puts the stakes at up to $53,088 for each violation. As of October 19, 2026, we found no public case the FTC has brought against an agent since the letters went out.
The Senate passed a cap. The House hasn't voted.
In December 2025, Senators Maria Cantwell and Marsha Blackburn introduced the HUSTLE Act. It would make agents register with a state, list them in a public database, and cap their fee at 5 percent. It went to the Senate Finance Committee and has not moved.
The same agent rules then went into a much bigger bill, the Protect College Sports Act. The Senate passed it 77 to 22 on September 28, 2026.
As the Senate passed it, an agent would have to register with a state before representing a college athlete on an endorsement deal. The fee would be capped at 5 percent of an endorsement contract's value.
The bill would also bar an agent contract from running past your eligibility, and bar lying about deals to get you to enroll or transfer.
Athletic associations would keep a public, searchable list of registered agents. An athlete could sue to have a contract declared void.
A 5 percent cap passed the Senate. Until the House votes, it isn't law.
The bill has been held at the House desk since October 5. ESPN reported the House isn't scheduled to vote on any bills until after the midterm elections, starting November 9. If it doesn't pass by January 3, 2027, Congress starts over.
One state made agents register
Louisiana's Act 895, which took effect June 9, 2026, adds agents for college and high school athletes to the state's agent law. That includes people paid to advise on endorsement deals.
Agents who were already working had to register with the Attorney General by August 1, 2026. Anyone not registered has to stop acting as an agent in the state until they are. Registration takes a background check and training.
The agent has to put the fee in writing, along with anyone else who gets paid from the deal. An administrative law judge can fine an agent up to $100,000 for each violation.
An athlete can also sue. If an agent is found liable, the law says the agent forfeits any right to be paid and refunds what was paid. "Louisiana's student-athletes deserve advocates who operate with integrity," Attorney General Liz Murrill said.
Most states have an athlete agent law of their own, and they differ on who registers, what it costs and how long you have to cancel. Our state-by-state page reads each one.
Who says they can't
The NCAA told ESPN in February that it has a "limited ability to regulate agents." It has rules for agents of college basketball players entering the NBA draft.
Agents are not part of the House settlement, the deal behind today's revenue sharing. A spokesperson for the College Sports Commission, which enforces it, did not tell ESPN whether it would address agents.
In high school, the people asking for a check are the coaches. "There's no registration. There's no supervision," Joe Martin, who runs the Texas High School Coaches Association, told the Austin American-Statesman this month.
Martin said a registry is at the top of the association's plans, built like the NFL's, with qualifications, a test and a cap. In February he told ESPN the problem was "almost at a crisis."
What that leaves you
Put it together and the checking is mostly letters, bills and one state's registry. For the deal on the table in front of you this week, the person who reads the agreement is you, or someone you choose to sit with you.
That is where the rules above still help. They tell you what the law already asks of an agent, what fee the Senate voted to cap, and what one state now makes an agent put in writing.
What Leave does with this
Upload the agreement and Leave reads it back in plain words: the fee, what it is taken of, how long it runs, and whether it runs past your eligibility.
Leave takes 0 percent of anything you sign. You decide what to sign.
Questions people ask
Has the FTC charged an agent under SPARTA yet?
We found no public case as of October 19, 2026. The FTC sent its letters to 20 schools in January, with replies due March 23. A letter asking questions is not a charge.
Is the 5 percent cap on agent fees the law now?
No. It is in the Protect College Sports Act, which passed the Senate 77 to 22 on September 28, 2026. The House has not voted. If it does not pass by January 3, 2027, it has to start over.
Does Louisiana's new law cover high school athletes?
Yes. Act 895 covers agents for college and high school athletes, including paid advice on endorsement deals. Agents already working had until August 1, 2026 to register with the Attorney General.
Be your own agent. Leave.