Preserving Athletic Universities' Activities: A Fight for Campus Competition

Preserving Athletic Universities' Activities: A Fight for Campus Competition

Trump Administration Protects and Expands College Sports, Focusing on Women's and Non-Revenue Sports

In an effort to preserve the integrity and educational value of college sports, the Trump Administration has issued an executive order to protect and expand college sports, particularly focusing on women's and non-revenue sports.

The key elements of this policy, as outlined in the July 2025 executive order, aim to:

1. Preservation and expansion of scholarships and competitive opportunities for women’s and non-revenue sports, including Olympic sports. These programs form the backbone of intercollegiate athletics and must be maintained and supported.
2. Prohibition of third-party pay-for-play payments to student-athletes. Schools should not allow outside parties to pay athletes in ways that function as disguised salaries. However, the order permits fair-market-value compensation for legitimate endorsements from businesses with a genuine commercial interest.
3. Protection of revenue-sharing arrangements between universities and athletes. Any such arrangements must be structured to ensure that women’s and non-revenue sports are not marginalized as commercialized revenue sports grow.

The executive order directs several Cabinet members and relevant agencies to take actions to clarify the employment status of student-athletes, preserve non-revenue sports, protect athletes’ rights, and stabilize college athletics amid ongoing legal and labor challenges.

The Secretary of Education, in consultation with other departments, will develop a plan to advance the policies set forth in the executive order within 30 days. The Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board will determine and implement measures to clarify the status of collegiate athletes.

The policy of the executive branch is to preserve and expand opportunities for scholarships and collegiate athletic competition in women's and non-revenue sports. This comes as a response to concerns that absent guardrails, many college sports will soon cease to exist, particularly non-revenue sports that form the backbone of intercollegiate athletics.

The executive order is to be implemented consistently with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. The costs for publication of the executive order will be borne by the Department of Education.

It is worth noting that 65% of the 2024 United States Olympic Team members were current or former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletes. College sports provide over $4 billion in scholarships to more than 500,000 student-athletes each year.

However, the current system has led to an out-of-control, rudderless system where university donors engage in bidding wars for the best players, who can change teams each season. The policy seeks to address these issues by blocking improper third-party payments that could undermine amateurism, while promoting and safeguarding opportunities for women’s and non-revenue sports through scholarship preservation and careful regulation of revenue sharing.

The Attorney General and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission will review and revise litigation positions and develop a plan to implement appropriate future actions within 60 days. The Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison will consult the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee about safeguarding the role of American collegiate athletics in developing athletes for international competitions.

The executive branch policy is that third-party, pay-for-play payments to collegiate athletes are improper and should not be permitted by universities. The order does not affect the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency.

The 2024 United States Olympic Team earned 126 total medals, leading the overall medal count for the eighth consecutive Summer Olympic Games. Players at some universities will receive more than $50 million per year, mostly for the revenue-generating sports like football.

[1] White House, Office of the Press Secretary. (2025, July 1). Executive Order on Maintaining Amateur Athletics and Protecting Young People. [online] Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/executive-actions/executive-order-maintaining-amateur-athletics-protecting-young-people/

[2] White House, Office of the Press Secretary. (2025, July 1). Fact Sheet: Protecting and Expanding College Sports. [online] Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/07/01/fact-sheet-protecting-and-expanding-college-sports/

[3] White House, Office of the Press Secretary. (2025, July 1). Remarks by President Trump on Protecting and Expanding College Sports. [online] Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2025/07/01/remarks-by-president-trump-on-protecting-and-expanding-college-sports/

[4] White House, Office of the Press Secretary. (2025, July 1). Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials on the Executive Order on Maintaining Amateur Athletics and Protecting Young People. [online] Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2025/07/01/background-press-call-by-senior-administration-officials-on-the-executive-order-on-maintaining-amateur-athletics-and-protecting-young-people/

[5] White House, Office of the Press Secretary. (2025, July 1). Fact Sheet: Protecting and Expanding College Sports: A Brief History. [online] Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/07/01/fact-sheet-protecting-and-expanding-college-sports-a-brief-history/

1. The Trump Administration's executive order aims to preserve and expand scholarships and competitive opportunities, particularly for women's and non-revenue sports, including Olympic sports, in college education and self-development.
2. The prohibition of third-party pay-for-play payments to student-athletes in sports, as specified in the policy and legislation, intends to protect the amateur status of athletes and prevent outside parties from interfering with the educational value of sports.
3. The policy also includes the protection of revenue-sharing arrangements between universities and athletes, ensuring that non-revenue sports are not marginalized in favor of revenue-generating sports like football in the business sector.
4. The Executive Order on Maintaining Amateur Athletics and Protecting Young People, under the general news category, has been implemented to address ongoing legal and labor challenges in sports, with the goal of stabilizing college athletics.
5. The policy also focuses on the role of American collegiate athletics in developing athletes for international competitions in the culture and sports realm, as demonstrated by the success of the 2024 United States Olympic Team, 65% of whose members were former or current National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletes.

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