Trump Signs Executive Order To Regulate College Sports

US President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order aimed at regulating US collegiate sports in the wake of rule changes that allow student-athletes to be compensated financially.

He also asked that rules be put in place that would allow them to transfer schools just once before they graduate without having to sit out a season.

The changes are scheduled to go into effect on August 1, and institutions that allow athletes who don’t meet the criteria risk losing federal funding.

Trump said that the loosening of “consistent rules or limits concerning eligibility, transfers, and pay-for-play schemes has created an out-of-control financial arms race… that is driving universities into debt.”

The women’s semi-finals took place on Friday, and the men’s Final Four semi-finals were scheduled for Saturday.

In addition to demanding eligibility and transfer limits, it calls on governing bodies to ban “improper” financial arrangements and urges Congress to pass legislation to address the issues.

It follows an order issued by Trump in July that sought to block some recruiting payments by third parties to college athletes in big-money sports like football and men’s basketball in order to preserve funds available for women’s and non-revenue sports.

The president said last month that the rising value of name, image, and likeness (NIL) contracts for players in high-visibility sports like football has created a burden for colleges that forces some to abandon other sports.

Some of those sports — such as athletics, swimming, and gymnastics — have long been pipelines for US Olympic teams.

AFP