On Friday, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Urgent National Action to Save College Sports”.
The executive order is intended to address a few key areas, as we covered in March: Athlete employment status, the one-time transfer policy, eligibility rules, collective limitations, and resource requirements for Olympic sports.
Trump has said the purpose of the order is to put pressure on Congress to legislate NIL regulations to help fix the college athletics landscape.
Trump’s new EO states, “College football is the primary revenue generator for university athletic departments, including revenue to support women’s and Olympic sports…These factors place enormous pressure on many universities to be competitive in football…
Amid this pressure, the rules governing pay-for-play, eligibility, and other aspects of college athletics have been substantially loosened…
This chaotic state of affairs has undermined competition, reduced opportunities for student-athletes, and jeopardized support for the current range of college athletics, particularly women’s and Olympic sports.”
The EO, which will go into effect on August 1st, 2026 calls for the return of the one-time transfer limit, with a second transfer available to students who have graduated from their institution. It also calls for participation to be limited to a five-year period, to “ensure that the transfer window does not incentivize interference with athletic seasons or the academic year, or otherwise undermine the integrity of participation and competition in college athletics.”
The five-year eligibility period calls for “limited exceptions for military service, missionary service, and other periods of absence from participation that are in the public interest.”
It also calls for “age-based eligibility limits”, but it does not clarify what these limits should be.
In regards to women’s and Olympic Sports, the EO states that revenue sharing should “expend scholarships and collegiate athletic opportunities in women’s and Olympic sports.” The order also threatens federal funding for institutions who do not abide by the new policies.
It also prohibits federal funds from being used for NIL or revenue sharing which is intended to help prevent “improper financial activities regarding student-athletes, including collectives or other entities or methods used to facilitate third-party, pay-for-play payments.”
NCAA President Charlie Baker posted a statement on Friday afternoon saying,
“The NCAA has modernized college sports to deliver more benefits for student-athletes, and the Executive Order reinforces many of our mandatory protections – including guaranteed health care coverage, mental health services, and scholarship protections. This action is a significant step forward, and we appreciate the Administration’s interest and attention to these issues. Stabilizing college athletics for student-athletes still requires a permanent, bipartisan federal legislative solution, so we look forward to continuing to work alongside the Administration and Congress to enact targeted legislation with the support of student-athlete leaders from all three divisions.”
NCAA President Charlie Baker Statement:
“The NCAA has modernized college sports to deliver more benefits for student-athletes, and the Executive Order reinforces many of our mandatory protections – including guaranteed health care coverage, mental health services, and…— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) April 3, 2026
At last month’s “Saving College Sports” roundtable, Trump said, according to ESPN, “We’re going to get sued, and we’re going to see how it plays, OK, but I’ll have an executive order, which will solve every problem in this room, every conceivable problem, within one week, and we’ll put it forward. We will get sued. That’s the only thing I know for sure.”
I’ve read this. This will be shredded into a million pieces by lawyers. I’m not even sure what the point of this was, since even Trump said after that first meeting a month ago that he was sure whatever he came up with would be tossed in court.
This is outstanding work by President Trump! I am very thankful for his leadership he has my complete trust.
Oh Vladimir.
Damn.
“Oh Regan” would have been better.
You’re kidding, right?
“Oh dear leader, I’m almost done with my golden idol just for you!”
And I love how you include that same banner pic, where he looks like a complete clown. (Actually…nevermind.)
The downvotes on anti Agent Orange posts always fascinate me. I think the 33% are here! But sentences are hard.
😂
Please stop.It’s too much winning!!!!
Does this result in the college senior class 2026 and on having 5 seasons that they can compete in, or does it start with the new incoming class? If it were to allow the college seniors of 2026 to come back, then the only class that did not get 5 years of eligibility was the class of 2025, since covid gave classes of 2021-2024 an extra year.
I think there’s a million and one questions that need to be asked before this becomes reality. Starting with “is it legal?”
So at this point…nobody knows…I would expect that if this EO stood up, it would be a year or two before we saw any impact. It would be much better served if Congress made a law, but Congress doesn’t seem capable of passing much these days – though Trump has made it pretty clear that this EO exists to try and push Congress to do something.
I would think that post-2026 elections, there would be a very reasonable middle ground on this stuff. Find a way that ensures college athletes get paid while also ensuring the future of… Read more »
This is somehow going to make filling up my gas tank more expensive
It’s not a law. Lawyers will eat this up in court.
Trump is a carnival barker with a crappy sharpie pen. Most of his brain dead EO’s have wilted in the courts, as will this brain dead EO.
he comes, destroys, leaves and declares victory. Like nobody’s seen before.
(also, I wonder if he wrote this, it says nothing about him winning the 2020 elections and ending and not ending the war while the war ended gloriously and he is not going to stop until he does)