By Ralph D. Russo, Justin Williams and Stewart Mandel
As the future of college sports faces continued legal and legislative friction, President Donald Trump could soon get involved in the form of an executive order that seeks to “preserve college athletics” through antitrust protections and clarity on student-athlete status.
A draft of an executive order titled “Saving College Sports” was obtained by The Athletic on Thursday, but it is not believed to be a finalized version. It is unclear if or when such an executive order will be formalized, but Trump has considered taking executive action on college sports for months. CBS News reported this week that the president was set to sign an order related to name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation for college athletes. Yahoo! Sports first reported on the contents of an executive order draft on Thursday.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The seven-page draft directs the Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to address the debate over the employment status of college athletes.
“Ongoing litigation seeks to transform student-athletes into employees, which would make college sports financially untenable for many, if not most, schools,” the draft states.
It also directs members of President Trump’s cabinet and other political officials to pursue policy and protections in a number of other areas related to college sports, including rules that could be challenged by antitrust complaints and continued opportunity for scholarships and roster spots, along with preventing “unqualified or unscrupulous agents from representing athletes.” The draft also calls for better uniformity with federal and state laws, and safeguarding the role college sports have played in the development of Olympic athletes.
The draft points to the “waves of recent litigation against NCAA governing rules” and states that, while changes in recent years allowing college athletes to be compensated were “overdue and should be maintained, the inability to maintain rules at all … will destroy what Americans recognize today as college sports.”
This potential executive order comes at a time of heightened political and legal involvement in college sports. The recently approved House v. NCAA settlement, which took effect July 1, created a revenue sharing model that allows schools to directly pay college athletes and provides back-pay damages to former college athletes who could not earn NIL compensation.
College sports leaders have also been lobbying congressional lawmakers for federal legislation and antitrust protections to help regulate the NIL market and supersede a patchwork of varying state laws on the matter.
The Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act is the latest bill to be drafted in Congress. Introduced last week by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, it was advanced through a subcommittee earlier this week and has bipartisan support. As written, the SCORE Act would codify many of the terms in the House settlement, but it has already faced considerable public opposition.
Trump has long held an interest in college athletics, according to industry sources familiar with his thinking, including preserving Olympic and other non-revenue sports amid the changing landscape. The president came away from a meeting with former Alabama football coach Nick Saban in May motivated to get involved. There were reports of a potential commission led by Saban and billionaire oil businessman Cody Campbell, a former Texas Tech football player and current board chair, but its implementation was put on hold as lawmakers worked on legislative solutions.
An executive order could be considered a way for Trump to either circumvent or push through congressional gridlock, but executive orders are not ideal long-term solutions — they are often repealed when a new administration takes office or can be challenged by courts. An order cannot grant antitrust exemptions or deny employee status to college athletes, but an order in line with the obtained draft would strongly signal Trump’s intent on those issues.
Legal battles are not new to college athletics. The House settlement is already being challenged despite being formally implemented just weeks ago, and the drafted order takes aim at the settlement as well.
“Even a recent litigation settlement that provides billions in back pay to former athletes and a revenue-sharing model between universities and student-athletes provides little assurance that it will not soon be upended by new litigation seeking more compensation with fewer rules, further reducing in the number of student-athletes,” the draft states.
Steve Berman, co-lead plaintiff counsel in the House settlement, took issue with Trump’s potential intervention in a statement on Thursday.
“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 said. “Mr. Trump boasts of his deal-making prowess. As a result of our case, college athletes are now free to make their own deals. 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.’ Step back, Mr. President.”
Earlier this week, players’ unions for the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, NHL and MLS issued a joint statement urging Congress to reject the proposed SCORE Act legislation, warning that an antitrust exemption would permit the NCAA and its members to “collude to harm athletes.”
“Whatever progress the athletes have made has been a result of their use of the antitrust laws,” they wrote. “The SCORE Act would take that weapon away from them.”
Despite questioning the legal viability of the settlement, the executive order draft overlaps with the settlement in its vision for NIL regulations. It also calls for the creation of a commission that would include individuals and organizations involved in collegiate athletics to continue exploring the order’s stated efforts to protect college sports.
“It is the policy of my Administration that college sports should be preserved,” the draft states. “My Administration will therefore support solutions that provide the long-term stability, fairness, and balance necessary to protect student-athletes, collegiate athletic scholarships and opportunities, and the special American institution of college sports.”
(Photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)
