President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order titled “SAVING COLLEGE SPORTS,” a directive aimed at regulating the rapidly shifting landscape in college sports.
Since 2021, college athletes have been able to profit off their name, image and likeness after a Supreme Court ruling on antitrust laws went in favor of the athletes. In the ensuing years, players have been able to get paid legally via third parties, and after a separate lawsuit was settled in June, athletes can now also be paid directly by their schools.
The NIL era, however, has raised a variety of concerns for both schools and athletes, with issues ranging from maintaining equality in women’s sports to a potential push for collective bargaining between athletes and their respective colleges.
Trump’s order, which is not itself a law, essentially calls for an implementation of policies that are widely viewed as NCAA (as opposed to athlete) friendly.
Here’s what to know.
What exactly does Trump’s order call for?
Trump’s order said that, in the wake of legislation that allows athletes to be compensated and transfer freely between schools, “the future of college sports is under unprecedented threat.”
The EO goes on to say that the recent rulings have unleashed “a sea change that threatens the viability of college sports” and more guardrails are needed to ensure a fairer system.
So, what would Trump like to see? The order calls for the following:
- Prohibiting third parties from engaging in direct “pay-for-play” payments to athletes, which the order deems improper. Currently, school boosters can sign players to multimillion-dollar NIL deals that are widely viewed as a workaround to directly paying players to attend a certain university. Trump’s order says players should only earn “fair market value” for a legitimate service to a third party, such as a brand endorsement. Advocates for athletes say this would impose a cap on their earnings.
- Protections on scholarships for nonrevenue sports, requiring schools to maintain or increase scholarships for such sports, depending on the revenue of their athletic departments. This would be a measure largely to protect Olympic sports and women’s sports from potential decreases in funding as more money goes to revenue-generating athletes in football and basketball.
- A clarification from the National Labor Relations Board on the employment status of athletes “that will maximize the educational benefits and opportunities provided by higher education institutions through athletics.” During the Biden administration, the NLRB issued a memo stating that certain college athletes should be considered employees. That memo was rescinded earlier this year, and now Trump is seeking to codify athletes as non-employees, which would almost certainly take away any opportunity they have to collectively bargain with schools.
- Protections for the NCAA from lawsuits by athletes. The NCAA has been lobbying for these protections for many years, as many of the big changes in college athletics have come as the result of antitrust lawsuits. Protections against further court cases would allow the NCAA to enforce its rules on issues such as transfers and third-party payments without fear of them being upended by another court ruling.
What does this all mean for the immediate future?
Nothing immediately.
Trump cannot unilaterally impose rules in this scenario. His executive order also comes as the House tries to push through the SCORE Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation that is aligned with much of Trump’s executive order. The SCORE Act has moved through committee and can be debated on the House floor when representatives return from recess in September.
Meanwhile, there has been a bipartisan push in the Senate to introduce its version of legislation regarding college athletes, with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., among those involved.
“The many challenges facing college sports are important and complex,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said in a statement to NBC News. “The Executive Order recognizes the importance of preserving Olympic sports, women’s sports, and maintaining competitiveness for big and small schools alike. I’m disappointed that the President abandoned his earlier plan for a commission to examine all the issues facing college sports. We need a sustainable future for college sports, not a future dominated by the biggest and wealthiest schools who can write their own rules without accountability.”
