Saving College Sports

The order directs the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Attorney General, HHS Secretary, and FTC Chairman, to develop a plan — within 30 days — to advance three core policies: requiring high-revenue athletic departments to maintain or expand scholarship opportunities in non-revenue sports, prohibiting third-party pay-for-play payments to athletes (while preserving legitimate fair-market-value NIL deals), and ensuring any direct university revenue-sharing preserves women's and non-revenue sport opportunities. It separately directs the Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to clarify collegiate athletes' legal employment status. The Attorney General and FTC Chairman must, within 60 days, review and revise litigation positions and develop a plan to protect college athletics from antitrust and other legal challenges.

The order sets policy goals and directs agencies to plan and act using existing authorities — including Title IX enforcement, federal funding decisions, and antitrust guidelines — but does not itself change any statute, regulation, or NCAA rule. Actual impacts on universities, athletes, and donors depend on the plans and actions agencies develop in response.

Universities and collegiate athletic departments of all revenue sizes, student-athletes in both revenue-generating and non-revenue sports, third-party NIL collectives and donors who fund pay-for-play arrangements, the NCAA and other collegiate athletics governing bodies, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Universities that fail to maintain non-revenue sports scholarships could face federal funding consequences or Title IX enforcement actions. Third-party donors and collectives that fund pay-for-play deals may face federal scrutiny. Athletes' legal employment status — which affects their rights and benefits — could be formally resolved by Labor Department and NLRB action.

The order works in two parallel tracks, each requiring agency-developed plans before any real-world change occurs. The Education Secretary leads on scholarship and NIL policy, using federal funding and Title IX as potential enforcement levers. The AG and FTC lead on antitrust litigation strategy, reviewing existing positions within 60 days. Labor and the NLRB handle athlete employment classification on their own timeline. Congress and state governments are identified as partners but are not bound. The order contains a standard no-private-right-of-action clause, meaning no individual can sue the government to enforce its terms.