On July 24, President Donald Trump signed an executive order attempting to create urgent national Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) standards pertaining to NCAA sports.
The NCAA has had a rough time navigating the new era of college sports created by NIL legislation and enforcing its own rules since they passed over four years ago and today President Trump stepped in an attempt to help the nonprofit organization with a 30-day plan to preserve college sports and clarify the NCAA’s mode of operation.
Since NIL statutes and rules went into effect in July 2021, there has been considerable debate on the legal ramifications of those NIL statutes under state laws. Since around that time, over 30 states have passed NIL laws, with some conflicting items that have made the NCAA’s rules basically powerless.
Since July 2021, NIL freedoms have been used for proxy play-to-pay payments and a plethora of lawsuits have been filed under anti-trust grounds against the NCAA.
On June 6 of this year, district judge Claudia Wilken approved a settlement between the NCAA and its conferences and a bevy of lawyers representing all D1 athletes. The settlement ended three federal antitrust lawsuits, most notably House vs. NCAA, as the plaintiffs in the historic case looked to prove the NCAA violated federal anti-trust law by limiting the potential earning power of student-athletes.
Since that day, colleges that have chosen to opt into revenue sharing are essentially paying collegiate athletes to play sports at their universities, although they are not considered employees of those institutions. Reportedly, over 50 D1 colleges opted out of the rev-share created by the House vs. NCAA settlement. Only a handful of D2 and D3 institutions opted in.
On July 10, the SCORE Act (Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements), a bipartisan federal bill, was introduced to the U.S. House with the goal of assisting the NCAA in regulating college sports.
Both the settlement and the SCORE Act have been strongly denounced by student-athlete advocacy groups such as National College Players Association (NCPA). The SCORE Act has also been denounced by player’s associations of major pro sports leagues.
The NCAA’s leadership has long pursued Congressional action in this power struggle over NIL rights and freedoms, with the ultimate goal of the nonprofit organization being granted an anti-trust exemption in order to provide teeth to NCAA rules and regulations.
What Did Trump’s Executive Order State?
On July 24, the White House released a fact sheet on Trump’s executive order. In typical Trump fashion, it is titled “President Donald J. Trump Saves College Sports”.
Here is a summary of that executive order.
• The order prohibits third-party, pay-for-play payments.
• The order directs the Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to determine and clarify the employee status of collegiate athletes.
• The order also addressed scholarship opportunities in non-revenue sports. There have been major concerns that the rev-sharing model introduced by the recent lawsuit settlement would cause a reduction in non-revenue sports participation and existence. Those schools with more than $125 million of revenue in 2024-25 should provide (going forward) more scholarship opportunities than provided during the 2024-25 athletic season and the maximum number of roster spots based on NCAA rules. The ones with between $50-$125 million of revenue in 2024-25 should provide at least the same scholarship opportunities during the 2024-25 athletic season and the maximum number of roster spots. The ones with less than $50 million of revenue in 2024-25 going forward should not disproportionately reduce scholarship opportunities or roster spots for sports based on the revenue that the sport generates.
• The order directs any rev-share agreed upon should be done in a way to preserve athletic scholarships and opportunities for women’s and non-revenue sports.
Some of the highlights of President Donald Trump signing Executive Order for College Sports#NCAA pic.twitter.com/jscRXcGnDk
— David Malandra Jr (@DaveMReports) July 24, 2025
What Does Trump’s Executive Order Accomplish?
• An executive order from the President of the United States makes government agencies stand up, take notice and creates urgency to take action on the issues. In this case its the issues that plague NCAA sports. What the 30-day plan did not do was make the directives in the fact sheet released the law of the land or supersede existing state laws.
• Government agencies directed by Trump are already capable of creating mandates and issuing regulations, as they pertain to NCAA sports.
• The order did not specify or make clear what entity has the authority to prohibit third-party, pay-for-play payments and enforce which agreements are considered third party or legitimate endorse deals.
• The order also did not address any anti-trust exemption for the NCAA.
What’s Next For This Executive Order?
• The type of declarations presented in the order would be challenged in court by those that oppose it, under interpretation of federal statues. Whether or not college athletes are employees and whether or not third party, pay for play payments are permissible is determined by courts, not the executive branch of government.
• According to On3.com, the House Education and Workforce and Energy and Commerce committees voted on July 23 to approve the SCORE Act – a step closer to NCAA legislation landing on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. After approval by both committees, the SCORE Act is eligible to be introduced on the House floor for debate and potential vote after summer recess. The SCORE Act will likely move through the House, but seven Democrats are needed to overcome the filibuster and reach the 60-vote margin for bill passage in the United States Senate. The Democrats on both committees were not in favor of the SCORE Act.
• The rev-share cap of $20.5 million per school that opts in is still subject to anti-trust problems, and potential litigation against the NCAA, because it was an amount not collectively bargained for by student-athletes or anyone specifically representing them.
In summary, the compensation issues plaguing NCAA sports were brought to the forefront and made an urgent matter by President Trump, but those issues are far from resolved because there is no clear, direct federal enforcement mechanism.
