President Donald Trump officially issued his college sports executive order on Thursday.
According to the White House, the executive order “prohibits third-party, pay-for-play payments to collegiate athletes.” However the order “does not apply to legitimate, fair-market-value compensation that a third party provides to an athlete, such as for a brand endorsement.”
Additionally, the order asks the Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board to “clarify the status of student-athletes in order preserve non-revenue sports and the irreplaceable educational and developmental opportunities that college sports provide” and tells Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Federal Trade Commission to “take appropriate actions to protect student-athletes’ rights and safeguard the long-term stability of college athletics from endless, debilitating antitrust and other legal challenges.”
The issuance of the executive order was no surprise. It’s been publicly floated for months and it’s unclear just how much of an effect on college sports it will have. The EO comes as college sports administrators have asked Congress for federal laws regulating the name, image and likeness landscape after the NCAA rolled back its rules on amateurism in the early 2020s.
Congress hasn’t shown an inclination to act anytime soon on federal legislation. Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reported on the contents of the executive order last week and one of the lead attorneys in the House settlement with the NCAA said the order was “unwarranted.”
“Plain and simple, college athletes don’t need Trump’s help, and he shouldn’t be aiding the NCAA at the expense of athletes,” Berman, managing partner and co-founder of Hagens Berman, said in a statement to Yahoo Sports last week. “Step back, Mr. President. These fabulous athletes don’t need your help. Let them make their own deals. And the Supreme Court with your appointee, Justice Kavanaugh, condemned the NCAA's compensation rules as a violation of the antitrust laws. Why give them immunity, Mr. President, in light of that ruling?"
The House settlement is ushering in a new era of revenue sharing for college sports as schools will distribute money to athletes directly. That settlement could also lead to changes in the way athletes are classified as well. With athletes now getting paid by their schools, there could be a stronger case to call them employees of the university.
The order comes months after a presidential commission on college sports was floated. Former Alabama coach Nick Saban was mentioned as a leader for the commission, but it went nowhere as a bipartisan bill on college sports is expected to receive a committee vote in the near future.
If the bill advances, it’d be the first time a bill regulating college sports has made it to the House or Senate floor in the NIL era. The NCAA has been asking for federal guidance ever since myriad states forged ahead with their own laws regulating how college athletes can get paid. Instead of navigating laws on a state-by-state basis, the NCAA largely rolled back its prohibitions on athlete compensation and the lack of guardrails has led to consternation among politicians and college administrators.
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