President Trump signs executive order to ‘save college sports’

On Thursday, the White House announced that President Donald Trump has signed an executive order titled “President Donald J. Trump Saves College Sports” that will prohibit third-party, pay-for-play payments and directs the Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to clarify that athletes are amateurs, not employees.

This “does not apply to legitimate, fair-market value compensation that a third party provides to an athlete, such as for a brand endorsement.”

The executive order does not necessarily say anything about how prohibiting pay-for-play is going to be enforced or what the penalty would be if a team breaks this new rule.

The executive order also states that “any revenue-sharing permitted between universities and collegiate athletes should be implemented in a manner that protects women’s and non-revenue sports.”

The order “directs the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission to take appropriate actions to protect student-athletes’ rights and safeguard the long-term stability of college athletics from endless, debilitating antitrust and other legal challenges.”

It is worth noting that the executive order does not address the House v. NCAA settlement that was approved last month.