President Donald Trump tried to put some teeth into his latest attempt to save college sports.
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The threat of cutting funding to cash-starved schools that don’t comply is real, even if the stricter rules Trump wants to come out of the executive order he signed Friday could take a while to figure out.
In the order signed hours before the women’s Final Four tipped off one of the biggest weekends in college sports, Trump went after eligibility rules, transfers and the spiraling costs associated with an industry that now pays its players millions of dollars per year.
He called on federal agencies to ensure schools are following the rules and threatened to choke off federal grants and funding — a similar approach his administration has taken to force universities around the country to alter policies involving diversity, equity and inclusion, transgender rights and even the kinds of classes they offer.
In some ways, forcing those changes might seem like child’s play compared to making major changes to college sports. The NCAA, the newly created College Sports Commission, the four power conferences, dozens more smaller ones and hundreds of educational institutions all have a say here: It’s a big reason Congress, which Trump instructed to act quickly, has been stuck for more than a year on this.
“I’m glad to know the President wants Congress to pass something,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a key member of the Senate committee looking into changes, who mentioned ongoing bipartisan negotiations.
Trump’s order was his second since last July and it included a laundry list of proposed fixes, many of which lawmakers and college leaders have been pushing for since the approval of a $2.8 billion settlement changed the face of games that were once played by pure amateurs.
In one of the more clear-cut demands in this order, Trump called for “clear, consistent and fair eligibility limits, including a five-year participation window,” that limits athletes to one transfer with one more available once they get a four-year degree.
“I’m extremely supportive of the President’s order,” said Cody Campbell, the Texas Tech regent and billionaire who is helping shape policy. “I’m very excited that we’re making progress and look forward to continued work in the (Congress) to permanently preserve a system that’s done so much for America.”
At a college sports roundtable he hosted last month, Trump said he anticipated any order he signed would trigger litigation. Athletes have largely won the freedom to transfer almost at will via the portal along with the ability to be paid by schools that are now doling out more than $20 million a year to their athletes.
Some of those players have also been suing the NCAA about eligibility limits, and their right to do that has been a major sticking point in the Congressional deliberations.
Trump also raised the need to fix revenue-sharing in a way that protects Olympic sports, which are most in peril if the college funding model spirals out of control.
Sarah Hirshland, the CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said Trump’s order “sends an important signal about the value of preserving and promoting investment in women’s and men’s collegiate Olympic sports in America.”
As much as the changes he directs, Trump’s call for the Education Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the attorney general’s office to evaluate “whether violations of such rules render a university unfit for Federal grants and contracts” stands out as a way to force change.
Several universities across the country have made policy changes to comply with federal orders and avoid funding-related showdowns with the government. It hasn’t prevented big-named schools like Penn State and Florida State from facing huge debts.
“From what I saw, some of the social media traffic, it’s pretty clear that he made clear that we need Congressional action to sort of seal the deal on a number of these things, which is good, because we do,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said.
Commissioners at the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern Conference released statements thanking Trump for weighing in, with the ACC’s Jim Phillips saying “there continues to be significant momentum to preserve the athletic and academic opportunities for the next generation of student-athletes and we appreciate the ongoing efforts.”
Attorney Mit Winter, who follows college sports law, said the order is likely to set up a situation where the NCAA and schools have to decide whether to follow a federal court order or an executive order.
“Either way, we’re likely going to see litigation challenging the EO by athletes and third parties,” Winter said.
University of Nebraska president Jeffrey Gold said he didn’t want to try to predict what the courts would do.
“But it is critical to what we must do to keep college athletics in line with what we do,” Gold said. “The roundtable a few weeks ago showed there is a profound sense of urgency around this.”
