Urgent National Action to Save College Sports

President Donald J. Trump’s order directs federal agencies to begin setting up a national framework to stabilize college sports, with key provisions taking effect on August 1, 2026. It tells agencies that fund or contract with colleges to consider whether schools are violating major college athletics rules on eligibility, transfers, revenue-sharing, and improper payments when evaluating those schools’ standing for federal grants and contracts. The order also pushes the national governing body for college sports to strengthen rules on issues such as five-year eligibility limits, transfer rules, medical care for athletes, protection of women’s and Olympic sports, limits on fraudulent NIL pay schemes, and a national registry for student-athlete agents. It further directs the Justice Department to challenge certain state laws that conflict with national college sports rules and says the action was issued because the White House views the current system as financially unstable, legally chaotic, and threatening to the structure of college athletics and universities’ broader responsibilities.