President Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to “protect student-athletes, collegiate athletic scholarships and opportunities, and the special American institution of college sports.” Trump’s order reigns in an “out-of-control, rudderless system in which competing university donors engage in bidding wars for the best players, who can change teams each season.”
“It is the policy of the executive branch that opportunities for scholarships and collegiate athletic competition in women’s and non-revenue sports must be preserved and, where possible, expanded,” Trump’s order declares. The order states that “third-party, pay-for-play payments to collegiate athletes are improper and should not be permitted by universities” and directs Cabinet members to develop a plan in accordance with Trump’s policy.
Should collegiate athletic departments have brought in more than $50,000,000 during the 2024-2025 season, they should “provide more scholarship opportunities in non-revenue sports than during the 2024-2025 athletic season and should provide the maximum number of roster spots for non-revenue sports permitted under the applicable collegiate athletic rules.” Departments bringing in $50,000,000 or less in revenue “should not disproportionately reduce scholarship opportunities or roster spots for sports based on the revenue that the sport generates.”
A White House fact sheet on the order explains that “escalating demands on resources to compete in the revenue-generating sports” threatens “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,” the fact sheet says.
The statement clarifies that payment regulations do not apply to “legitimate, fair-market-value compensation that a third party provides to an athlete, such as for a brand endorsement.”
