In the already tangled landscape of college athletics, President Trump’s recent executive order on student-athlete compensation is less a cautious step and more a full-speed sprint through a legal and political minefield. While his move lacks immediate legal weight, it makes one thing clear: the future of college sports is now undeniably a national political issue.
A System Already in Flux
For years, the collegiate sports system has been undergoing seismic changes—many driven by courts and legislative shifts around Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). Gone are the days when student-athletes were strictly amateurs in the financial sense. Today, stars like Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning can command NIL valuations upward of $6.5 million, with deals from giants like Uber and Red Bull.
The most significant recent development came in the form of the House settlement, a landmark antitrust case that paves the way for universities to directly compensate athletes—capped at $20 million annually per school. While hailed by athletes’ rights advocates, this has also unleashed waves of concern among those worried about what this means for the structure—and soul—of college sports.
Trump’s Executive Order: Big Moves, Small Legal Teeth
President Trump’s executive order boldly claims to “save college sports.” It seeks to:
Ban third-party pay-for-play arrangements (where external companies pay athletes to attend or play for a specific school),
Reallocate funding and scholarships toward women’s and Olympic sports,
Clarify whether student-athletes are legally considered employees,
Push federal agencies like the FTC and NLRB to revisit the antitrust frameworks around the NCAA.
While executive orders don’t change laws by themselves, this one sends a clear message: Trump wants to reassert regulatory control over a rapidly privatizing space—and he's not shy about using political threats, such as the potential loss of federal funding, to do so.
The Real Stakes: What's at Risk?
This intervention comes at a moment of existential anxiety for college sports. As more money flows to a select few athletes, there’s growing fear that programs like track, swimming, and gymnastics—which don't generate revenue but are key Olympic pipelines—could be on the chopping block.
And then there’s Title IX. With schools now potentially paying male athletes millions, how those funds will be balanced across genders remains legally murky. If equity mandates aren’t met, expect lawsuits and further financial strain.
As Callan Stein, a legal advisor to universities, put it: “We don’t really know yet how Title IX is going to be interpreted in connection with the payments permitted under the House settlement.” That uncertainty could prompt institutions to cut lower-revenue sports to stay solvent.
A Political Chess Game
Legally, the executive order is mostly symbolic. But politically, it could be influential—especially if Congress begins to act in line with its objectives. One such vehicle is the SCORE Act, which would:
Grant antitrust protections to the NCAA,
Rein in some NIL activities,
Reinforce a non-employee classification for student-athletes.
While the bill has Trump-aligned Republican support, it’s unpopular among Democrats who worry it would allow the NCAA to roll back progress on fair athlete compensation. With a closely divided Senate, it faces an uphill battle—especially against filibuster rules.
The Looming Breakaway Threat
Legal questions aside, there’s a much bigger shift that could reshape college sports entirely: The top programs might leave the NCAA altogether.
As Michael Lowe, a lawyer focused on higher education and NIL, notes: “There’s long been concerns that the big money schools don’t need the NCAA anymore... if you start passing laws to restrict how they operate... why wouldn’t they just say, ‘Bye, bye, NCAA?’”
In other words, we may soon see powerhouse schools form their own league—like a college sports super-conference—cutting out the NCAA middleman altogether.
Final Thought: What Now?
To sum it up in the words of Mark Conrad, a sports law professor: “We’re still in a period of uncertainty, and we probably will remain in that period until national legislation is passed, sport conferences create their own rules, or players unionize.”
Trump’s executive order doesn’t solve this chaos. But it does amplify the urgency. Whether his policy proposals take legal form or not, his involvement ensures that the battle over college athlete compensation won’t just be fought in courts or campuses—it’ll be a central issue on the national stage.
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