Trump Calls on Congress to Reform College Sports

President Trump is pressing Congress to pass legislation overhauling the business of college sports, warning the current system risks being "lost forever" amid what the White House calls an out-of-control financial arms race. The push centers on a draft proposal for a task force that would examine pooled media rights, impose limits on coaching salaries, rewrite eligibility rules and alter the transfer portal.

The document was obtained by Yahoo Sports and reported by The Associated Press. This builds on a recent executive order signed by Trump that described college athletics as destabilized by loosened rules on player compensation, transfers and eligibility.

The order urged federal action to prevent further damage to universities, women’s sports, Olympic sports and educational opportunities for student-athletes. The White House stated the existing model is driving universities into debt while citing roughly 500,000 annual educational, athletic and leadership opportunities and nearly $4 billion in scholarships provided each year.

It called further delay unacceptable given the stakes.

The executive order directs federal agencies that contract with or provide grants to higher education institutions to evaluate violations of college athletics rules. These include breaches of eligibility limits, transfer regulations, revenue sharing and improper financial activities such as fraudulent name, image and likeness schemes.

The order also covers use of federal funds for name, image and likeness or revenue-sharing payments, as well as interference with contracts between student-athletes and other schools. It builds on Trump’s statements last month at a White House roundtable where he said "crazy things are happening" as players remain in school longer and earn more through name, image and likeness deals.

The White House urged college athletics governing bodies to clarify rules before Aug. 1 on eligibility limits, transfer rules, medical care for athletes and protections for women’s and Olympic sports.

The draft proposal calls on Congress to quickly enact legislation creating a task force equipped with an antitrust exemption and authority to override individual state laws. This is a priority for the NCAA and college sports leaders seeking uniform national standards after more than a year of stalled legislation on codifying parts of a House settlement that established revenue sharing.

Among the more divisive elements is pooling media rights across conferences. That idea faces opposition from the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten but receives support from a group that argues it could add billions in overall value. The document also targets salary-cap circumvention, an apparent reference to schools using third-party name, image and likeness deals to bypass limits on direct payments to athletes.

That issue sits at the center of an ongoing arbitration case involving Nebraska football players whose name, image and likeness deals were rejected by the College Sports Commission. The draft committee document calls for lawmakers to act before Congress departs for its traditional August recess.

The executive order follows months of discussion involving former coaches and administrators who have advised the White House on the need for new regulations on transfers and eligibility to avoid what one described as chaos and financial ruin in the system.

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