President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that aims to bring stability to college sports while preventing college athletes from becoming professionals.
The president’s order includes guidelines that would preserve athletic scholarships based on an athletic department’s annual revenue. More noteworthy, however, is the declaration that no athlete should be permitted to accept “third-party, pay-for-play payments.”
The executive order directs members of his Cabinet to develop a plan of attack within the next 30 days. It also tabbed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to use future federal funding decisions, among other points of leverage, to force schools to oblige the new policy.
“A national solution is urgently needed,” Trump said in the executive order, “to prevent this situation from deteriorating beyond repair and to protect non-revenue sports, including many women’s sports, that comprise the backbone of intercollegiate athletics.”
According to the order, third-party endorsement deals could continue if they carry “fair market value.”
Trump’s order comes as college athletes have taken advantage of the NCAA easing its constraints on pay-to-play. That came on the heels of an antitrust settlement this summer that allowed schools to pay up to $20.5 million to their athletes in the forthcoming academic year.
Last week, Steve Berman, one of the co-lead plaintiff attorneys in the antitrust case, said that college athletes “don’t need Trump’s help,” adding that “he shouldn’t be aiding the NCAA at the expense of athletes.
“As a result of our case, college athletes are now free to make their own deals,” Berman said. “For Trump to want to put his foot on their deal-making abilities is unwarranted and flouts his own philosophy on the supposed ‘art of the deal.'”
The Autonomy 5 Conferences — which includes the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC — issued a statement after Trump signed the executive order, saying that it is a step toward “preserving these monumental gains by passing a federal law with national standards” for name, image and likeness rights.
“We hope Congress sends federal legislation to President Trump’s desk as soon as possible.”
NCAA president Charlie Baker also praised Trump’s order.
“The Association appreciates the Trump Administration’s focus on the life-changing opportunities college sports provides millions of young people,” Baker said in a statement, “and we look forward to working with student-athletes, a bipartisan coalition in Congress and the Trump Administration to enhance college sports for years to come.”
Earlier this month, the Power 4 conferences formed the College Sports Commission, a group that aims to vet all third-party deals to ensure they reflect reasonable payments for endorsements as opposed to veiled pay-to-play attempts.
The executive order also requires schools to increase the number of available scholarships in non-revenue sports if their athletic departments earned more than $125 million during the last academic year. In addition, any athletic department that brought in at least $50 million cannot reduce the number of scholarships offered in those sports.
–Field Level Media
