By WILL WEISSERT
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an government order mandating that federal authorities make clear whether or not faculty athletes might be thought of workers of the colleges they play for in an try and create clearer nationwide requirements within the NCAA’s title, picture and likeness period.
Trump directed the secretary of labor and the Nationwide Labor Relations Board to make clear the standing of collegiate athletes by steering or guidelines “that will maximize the educational benefits and opportunities provided by higher education institutions through athletics.” The order doesn’t present or counsel specifics on the controversial matter of faculty athlete employment.
The transfer comes after months of hypothesis about whether or not Trump will set up a university sports activities fee to deal with among the thorny points going through what’s now a multibillion-dollar business. He as a substitute issued an order supposed so as to add some controls to “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.”
“Absent guardrails to stop the madness and ensure a reasonable, balanced use of resources across collegiate athletic programs that preserves their educational and developmental benefits, many college sports will soon cease to exist,” Trump’s order says. “It is common sense that college sports are not, and should not be, professional sports, and my administration will take action accordingly.”
There was a dramatic enhance in cash flowing into and round faculty athletics and a way of chaos. Key courtroom victories received by athletes indignant that they have been barred for many years from incomes earnings based mostly on their movie star and from sharing within the billions of income they helped generate have gutted the amateurism mannequin lengthy on the coronary heart of faculty sports activities.
Dealing with a rising variety of state legal guidelines undercutting its authority, the NCAA in July 2021 cleared the best way for athletes to money in with NIL offers with manufacturers and sponsors — offers now value hundreds of thousands. That got here mere days after a 9-0 resolution from the Supreme Courtroom that discovered the NCAA can’t impose caps on education-related advantages colleges present to their athletes as a result of such limits violate antitrust legislation.
The NCAA’s embrace of NIL offers set the stage for one more large change that took impact July 1: The flexibility of colleges to start paying hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to their very own athletes, as much as $20.5 million per faculty over the following 12 months. The $2.8 billion Home settlement shifts much more energy to athletes, who’ve additionally received the flexibility to switch from faculty to high school with out ready to play.
At Huge Ten Convention soccer media days in Las Vegas, Purdue coach Barry Odom was requested concerning the Trump order.
“We’ve gotten to the point where government is involved. Obviously, there’s belief it needs to be involved,” he mentioned. “We’ll get it all worked out. The game’s been around for a hundred years and it’s going to be around 100 more.”
The NCAA has been lobbying for a number of years for restricted antitrust safety to maintain some sort of management over this new panorama — and keep away from extra crippling lawsuits — however a handful of payments have gone nowhere in Congress. Trump’s order makes no point out of that, nor does it discuss with any of the present payments in Congress geared toward addressing points in faculty sports activities.
NCAA President Charlie Baker and the nation’s largest conferences each issued statements saying there’s a clear want for federal laws.
“The association appreciates the Trump administration’s focus on the life-changing opportunities college sports provides millions of young people and we look forward to working with student-athletes, a bipartisan coalition in Congress and the Trump administration,” mentioned Baker, whereas the conferences mentioned it was vital to move a legislation with nationwide requirements for athletes’ NIL rights as quickly as attainable.
The 1,100 universities that comprise the NCAA have insisted for many years that athletes are college students who can’t be thought of something like a faculty worker. Nonetheless, some coaches have not too long ago prompt collective bargaining as a possible resolution to the chaos they see.
It’s a difficult matter: Universities would grow to be answerable for paying wages, advantages, and staff’ compensation and colleges and conferences have insisted they may struggle any such transfer in courtroom. Whereas non-public establishments fall below the Nationwide Labor Relations Board, public universities should observe labor legal guidelines that fluctuate from state to state and it’s value noting that just about each state within the South has “right to work” legal guidelines that current challenges for unions.
Trump’s order additionally:
— Requires including or a minimum of preserving athletic scholarships and roster spots for non-revenue sports activities, that are these outdoors soccer and basketball. The Home settlement permits for limitless scholarships however does impose roster limits, resulting in an advanced set of selections for every program at every faculty that embody potential considerations about Title IX fairness guidelines. Trump mentioned “opportunities for scholarships and collegiate athletic competition in women’s and non-revenue sports must be preserved and, where possible, expanded.”
— Asks the Justice Division and Federal Commerce Fee to “preserve college athletics through litigation” and different actions to guard the rights and pursuits of athletes — a stance that would affect ongoing lawsuits filed by athletes over eligibility and different points.
— Directs White Home workers to work with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to guard the collegiate pipeline feeding Staff USA. School sports activities applications produce round three-quarters of U.S. Olympians at a typical Summer time Video games, however some are on unsure footing as colleges start sharing income with athletes and the lion’s share going to soccer and basketball.
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AP Nationwide Author Eddie Pells contributed.
Initially Revealed: July 24, 2025 at 4:29 PM PDT
