President Donald Trump tried to put some teeth into his latest rescue attempt college sports.
The threat of cutting funding to cash-strapped schools that don’t follow the rules is real, even if it may take some time for the stricter rules resulting from the executive order he signed Friday to become clear.
In the order, signed hours before the Women’s Final Four kicked off one of the biggest weekends in college sports, Trump took issue with eligibility rules, transfers and the rising costs associated with an industry that now pays its players millions of dollars a year.
He called on federal agencies to ensure schools are in compliance and threatened to choke off federal grants and funding — a similar approach his administration has taken to force universities across the country to change policies on diversity, equity and inclusion, transgender rights and even the types of classes they offer.
In some ways, once college sports figures this out, enforcing those changes will seem like child’s play. The NCAA, the newly created College Sports Commission, the four power conferences, dozens of smaller ones and hundreds of educational institutions all have a say in this: it’s a big reason why Congress, which Trump ordered to act quickly, has been stuck on this for more than a year.
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“I’m glad to know that the president wants Congress to pass something,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a key member of the Senate committee examining changes, who mentioned ongoing bipartisan negotiations.
Trump’s order was his second since last July and included a laundry list of proposed solutions, many of them lawmakers and lawmakers College leaders have been pushing for this since the adoption of a $2.8 billion settlement changed the face of games once played by pure amateurs.
He called for “clear, consistent and fair eligibility limits, including a five-year eligibility period,” and wants to limit athletes to one transfer, with another available once they complete a four-year degree.
“I strongly support the president’s order,” said Cody Campbell, the Texas Tech regent and billionaire who is helping shape the policy. “I am very excited that we are making progress and look forward to continued work in Congress to permanently preserve a system that has done so much for America.”
At one roundtable on college sports he hosted last monthTrump said he expected any order he signed would lead to lawsuits. Athletes have largely gained the freedom to transfer through the portal virtually at will, along with the ability to get paid by schools that now hand out more than $20 million per year to their athletes.
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Some have also taken the NCAA to court over the eligibility restrictions, and their right to do so has been a major sticking point in Congress’s deliberations.
As much as the changes he is driving, Trump’s call for the Department of Education, the Federal Trade Commission and the attorney general’s office to evaluate “whether violations of such rules make a university ineligible 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 confrontations with the government. Still, big schools love it Penn State And State of Florida suffer from enormous debts.
“I obviously haven’t read it, but I certainly appreciate his interest in the issue,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said during the Women’s Final Four in Phoenix. “And from what I saw, from some of the social media traffic, it’s pretty clear that he’s made it clear that we need action from Congress to get the deal done on some of these issues, which is good, because we’re doing that.”
Commissioners from the Atlantic Coast and the Southeastern Conference released statements thanking Trump for his input, with the ACC’s Jim Phillips saying, “There continues to be significant momentum to preserve athletic and academic opportunities for the next generation of student-athletes and we appreciate the continued efforts.”
Attorney Mit Winter, who follows college sports law, said the order will likely create a situation where the NCAA and schools will have to decide whether to follow a federal court order or an executive order.
“Either way, we will likely see lawsuits against the EO by athletes and third parties,” Winter said.
Jeffrey Gold, president of the University of Nebraska, said he didn’t want to try to predict what the courts would do.
“But it is critical to what we need to do to keep college athletics in line with what we do,” Gold said. “The roundtable discussion a few weeks ago showed that there is a deep sense of urgency around this topic.”
AP Sports Writers Maura Carey, David Brandt and Eric Olson contributed to this report.
