Trump Saves College Sports: White House Fact Sheet

SAVING COLLEGE SPORTS: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to protect student-athletes and collegiate athletic scholarships and opportunities, including in Olympic and non-revenue programs, and the unique American institution of college sports.

• The Order requires the preservation and, where possible, expansion of opportunities for scholarships and collegiate athletic competition in women's and non-revenue sports.
• The Order prohibits third-party, pay-for-play payments to collegiate athletes. This does not apply to legitimate, fair-market-value compensation that a third party provides to an athlete, such as for a brand endorsement.
• The Order provides that any revenue-sharing permitted between universities and collegiate athletes should be implemented in a manner that protects women's and non-revenue sports.
• The Order directs the Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to clarify the status of student-athletes in order to preserve non-revenue sports and the irreplaceable educational and developmental opportunities that college sports provide.
• The Order directs the Attorney General 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 Order directs the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison to consult with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams and other organizations to protect the role of college athletics in developing world-class American athletes.

RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF COLLEGE SPORTS: President Trump recognizes the critical role of college sports in fostering leadership, education, and community pride, the need to address urgent threats to its future, including endless litigation seeking to eliminate the basic rules of college sports, escalating private-donor pay-for-play payments in football and basketball that divert resources from other sports and reduce competitive balance, and the commonsense reality that college sports are different than professional sports.

• College sports, a uniquely American institution, support over 500,000 student-athletes with nearly $4 billion in scholarships annually, forging America's future leaders, driving local economies and shaping national culture.
• The collegiate athletic system produced 75% of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team and has yielded countless business and civic leaders.
• Recent litigation, including a 2021 Supreme court ruling on name, image, and likeness (NIL) payments and subsequent cases dismantling NCAA transfer and recruiting rules, has created a chaotic environment that threatens the financial and structural viability of college athletics.
  • Ongoing lawsuits seek to tear down the foundational elements of college sports that distinguish it from professional sports and protect non-revenue sports, such as that student-athletes are different than professional employees and that there are limits on how many seasons student-athletes can play.
• The lack of enforceable rules has turned what were supposed to be legitimate, third-party NIL opportunities for players into pay-for-play bidding wars amongst university boosters, with some universities and their outside supporters reportedly spending more than $50 million per year on fielding rosters, mostly for the revenue-generating sports like football. Football players on one team will receive $35-40 million in 2025 alone.
• Given these enormous, escalating demands on resources to compete in the revenue-generating sports, there are serious concerns regarding the future of non-revenue sports, women's sports, and Olympic sports, as private-donor money is increasingly concentrated in these third-party, pay-for-play deals. This dynamic also reduces competition and parity by creating an oligarchy of teams that can buy the best players-including the best players from less-wealthy programs at the end of each season, given the lack of restrictions on transferring teams each year.
• Over 30 states have passed conflicting NIL laws, leading to a race-to-the-bottom that risks exploiting student-athletes and creating competitive imbalances among universities.
• Without Federal action to restore order, ongoing lawsuits and a patchwork of state NIL laws risk exploiting student-athletes and eroding the opportunities provided by collegiate sports.

PROMOTING A LEGACY OF ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE: This Executive Order builds on President Trump's longstanding commitment to showcasing American greatness through sports and recognition of its value in forging American leaders and culture.

• President Trump signed an Executive Order to keep men out of women's sports, ensuring equal opportunities for women in sports.
• President Trump played a pivotal role in securing the United States' bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the United States' bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
• President Trump has attended countless sporting events and hosted numerous teams at the White House.