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NIL

Kirby Smart explains troubling NIL strategy used in high school recruiting

NIL has officially taken over college football. That won’t be a surprise to any college football fan, but every day that passes it seems like NIL is becoming more and more of a problem in the sport. While many fans, analysts and coaches have a lot of issues with NIL, a new detail about how […]

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NIL has officially taken over college football. That won’t be a surprise to any college football fan, but every day that passes it seems like NIL is becoming more and more of a problem in the sport.

While many fans, analysts and coaches have a lot of issues with NIL, a new detail about how teams are using NIL has surfaced that might the the biggest problem to date. And none other than Kirby Smart is the one who shared this new NIL detail.

Schools are paying high school recruits to stay committed

In the above post from Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, Smart detailed a new NIL strategy some teams are using to keep their recruits committed to their program. Smart shared that schools are paying recruits upwards of $20,000 per month to keep them committed to their recruiting class.

It’s hard to express how awful this idea is and how this isn’t what NIL actually is at all. NIL was supposed to be a way for players to earn money off their name, image and likeness, but instead it has grown into an unregulated mess where everyone is getting paid for things that have nothing to do with their name, image and likeness.

Most fans have gotten behind the idea of recruits accepting NIL deals they will make when they get to college. That doesn’t make people agree with college football turning into this, but it’s become normalized over the years. But paying recruits that are still in high school just to keep them committed to their program is borderline insane.

Georgia likely is not implementing this unique NIL strategy

On the bright side, it seems like this isn’t something Georgia is doing, because if they were then Smart would never share this information publicly. So if other programs want to waste their money on high school recruits then so be it.

Georgia clearly has a method to their NIL madness that clearly works, because they have won multiple championships and signed the best recruiting classes in the country during the NIL era. So thankfully UGA is not utilizing this new strategy of paying recruits to stay committed, because if someone needs money to stay committed then that is a player no one should want in Georgia’s program.





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Nick Saban Strongly Endorses President Trump’s Executive Order

Nick Saban Strongly Endorses President Trump’s Executive Order originally appeared on The Spun. The advent of NIL deals significantly diminished the influence that college football recruiters have had over the past few years. But a new executive order from President Trump will aim to curtail that, much to the delight of former national champion Nick […]

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Nick Saban Strongly Endorses President Trump’s Executive Order originally appeared on The Spun.

The advent of NIL deals significantly diminished the influence that college football recruiters have had over the past few years. But a new executive order from President Trump will aim to curtail that, much to the delight of former national champion Nick Saban.

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The “Saving College Sports” executive order reins in NIL deals in several ways.

“The future of college sports is under unprecedented threat,” the order says. “A national solution is urgently needed to prevent this situation from deteriorating beyond repair and to protect non-revenue sports, including many women’s sports, that comprise the backbone of intercollegiate athletics, drive American superiority at the Olympics and other international competitions, and catalyze hundreds of thousands of student-athletes to fuel American success in myriad ways.”

US President Donald Trump gestures during the award ceremony for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Champions, following the final football match between England's Chelsea and France's Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 13, 2025. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) ANGELA WEISS/Getty Images

US President Donald Trump gestures during the award ceremony for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Champions, following the final football match between England’s Chelsea and France’s Paris Saint-Germain at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 13, 2025. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) ANGELA WEISS/Getty Images

Saban has been a fan of the order from the get-go and is in favor of more guardrails moving forward. Appearing on Fox News, Saban praised the President for signing the order and believes that the nation is at a crossroads. He feels that the choice is now between “an education-based mode,” which Trump supports, and university-sponsored pro teams.

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“I think President Trump’s Executive Order takes a huge step in providing the educational model that has always been what we’ve tried to promote to create opportunities for players,” Saban said. “I think we sort of need to make a decision here. Do we want an education-based model (which I think the President took a big step towards doing that) or do we want to have universities sponsor professional teams? I think most people would choose the former.”

There are a lot of things that the order does and a lot of things that the order doesn’t do.

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What Trump signed doesn’t appear to be the framework for an “education-based model,” but rather an attempt to simply rein in the athletes getting paid directly. Everything else, from the billion-dollar media rights deals to the huge investments going directly into football infrastructure to the increasingly large coaching contracts, stays the same.

While Saban seems to believe that most people prefer the education-based model, it’s hard to tell if that’s what we’re likely to get moving forward.

More importantly, the pro-style model has become so ingrained in college football and football culture itself that it may be impossible to un-ring the bell in the first place.

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Related: Trump Considers Executive Order on College Athlete Payments

Nick Saban Strongly Endorses President Trump’s Executive Order first appeared on The Spun on Jul 25, 2025

This story was originally reported by The Spun on Jul 25, 2025, where it first appeared.



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Trump signs order to clarify college athletes’ employment status amid NIL chaos | Pro National Sports

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order mandating that federal authorities clarify whether college athletes can be considered employees of the schools they play for in an attempt to create clearer national standards in the NCAA’s name, image and likeness era. Trump directed the secretary of labor and the National Labor […]

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order mandating that federal authorities clarify whether college athletes can be considered employees of the schools they play for in an attempt to create clearer national standards in the NCAA’s name, image and likeness era.

Trump directed the secretary of labor and the National Labor Relations Board to clarify the status of collegiate athletes through guidance or rules “that will maximize the educational benefits and opportunities provided by higher education institutions through athletics.” The order does not provide or suggest specifics on the controversial topic of college athlete employment.

The move comes after months of speculation about whether Trump will establish a college sports commission to tackle some of the thorny issues facing what is now a multibillion-dollar industry. He instead issued an order intended to add some controls to “an out-of-control, rudderless system in which competing university donors engage in bidding wars for the best players, who can change teams each season.”

“Absent guardrails to stop the madness and ensure a reasonable, balanced use of resources across collegiate athletic programs that preserves their educational and developmental benefits, many college sports will soon cease to exist,” Trump’s order says. “It is common sense that college sports are not, and should not be, professional sports, and my administration will take action accordingly.”

There has been a dramatic increase in money flowing into and around college athletics and a sense of chaos. Key court victories won by athletes angry that they were barred for decades from earning income based on their celebrity and from sharing in the billions of revenue they helped generate have gutted the amateurism model long at the heart of college sports.

Facing a growing number of state laws undercutting its authority, the NCAA in July 2021 cleared the way for athletes to cash in with NIL deals with brands and sponsors — deals now worth millions. That came mere days after a 9-0 decision from the Supreme Court that found the NCAA cannot impose caps on education-related benefits schools provide to their athletes because such limits violate antitrust law.

The NCAA’s embrace of NIL deals set the stage for another massive change that took effect July 1: The ability of schools to begin paying millions of dollars to their own athletes, up to $20.5 million per school over the next year. The $2.8 billion House settlement shifts even more power to athletes, who have also won the ability to transfer from school to school without waiting to play.

At Big Ten Conference football media days in Las Vegas, Purdue coach Barry Odom was asked about the Trump order.

“We’ve gotten to the point where government is involved. Obviously, there’s belief it needs to be involved,” he said. “We’ll get it all worked out. The game’s been around for a hundred years and it’s going to be around 100 more.”

The NCAA has been lobbying for several years for limited antitrust protection to keep some kind of control over this new landscape — and avoid more crippling lawsuits — but a handful of bills have gone nowhere in Congress. Trump’s order makes no mention of that, nor does it refer to any of the current bills in Congress aimed at addressing issues in college sports.

NCAA President Charlie Baker and the nation’s largest conferences both issued statements saying there is a clear need for federal legislation.

“The association appreciates the Trump administration’s focus on the life-changing opportunities college sports provides millions of young people and we look forward to working with student-athletes, a bipartisan coalition in Congress and the Trump administration,” said Baker, while the conferences said it was important to pass a law with national standards for athletes’ NIL rights as soon as possible.

The 1,100 universities that comprise the NCAA have insisted for decades that athletes are students who cannot be considered anything like a school employee. Still, some coaches have recently suggested collective bargaining as a potential solution to the chaos they see.

It is a complicated topic: Universities would become responsible for paying wages, benefits, and workers’ compensation and schools and conferences have insisted they will fight any such move in court. While private institutions fall under the National Labor Relations Board, public universities must follow labor laws that vary from state to state and it’s worth noting that virtually every state in the South has “right to work” laws that present challenges for unions.

Trump’s order also:

— Calls for adding or at least preserving athletic scholarships and roster spots for non-revenue sports, which are those outside football and basketball. The House settlement allows for unlimited scholarships but does impose roster limits, leading to a complicated set of decisions for each program at each school that include potential concerns about Title IX equity rules. Trump said “opportunities for scholarships and collegiate athletic competition in women’s and non-revenue sports must be preserved and, where possible, expanded.”

— Asks the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to “preserve college athletics through litigation” and other actions to protect the rights and interests of athletes — a stance that could influence ongoing lawsuits filed by athletes over eligibility and other issues.

— Directs White House staff to work with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to protect the collegiate pipeline feeding Team USA. College sports programs produce around three-quarters of U.S. Olympians at a typical Summer Games, but some are on uncertain footing as schools begin sharing revenue with athletes and the lion’s share going to football and basketball.

AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed.



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Most 30-year-olds play college football on Xbox—Monte Harrison plays it for real

With the recent release of EA Sports College Football 26, 30-somethings across America are chasing Heisman and national championship trophies, playing the popular video game franchise that, thanks to NIL legislation, returned to consoles for the first time in a decade last summer. However, one soon-to-be 30-year-old is living out the college football dream in […]

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With the recent release of EA Sports College Football 26, 30-somethings across America are chasing Heisman and national championship trophies, playing the popular video game franchise that, thanks to NIL legislation, returned to consoles for the first time in a decade last summer.

However, one soon-to-be 30-year-old is living out the college football dream in real life, playing the human version of the 2025 college football season, not the virtual one.

Monte Harrison is an SEC wide receiver for the Arkansas Razorbacks, approaching his fourth decade on Earth. Only a sophomore in college, Harrison committed to Nebraska over Arkansas and several other schools as a four-star prospect in the Class of 2014, but elected to pursue a career in professional baseball instead.

Aug 29, 2024; Little Rock, Arkansas, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks wide receiver Monte Harrison (82) runs a route in the fourth quarter against the Pine Bluff Golden Lions at War Memorial Stadium. Arkansas won 70-0. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

The Milwaukee Brewers selected Harrison in the second round of the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft at pick No. 50 overall. He played pro ball for 10 seasons, including 50 games in the majors over three years with the Miami Marlins (2020-21) and Los Angeles Angels (2022), before retiring from baseball in 2023.

May 2, 2021; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Miami Marlins center fielder Monte Harrison (3) on the field before the game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

A year later, Harrison enrolled in college to finish what he started in football, suiting up for Arkansas in the 2024 season. He played in 11 games with two catches for 29 yards, both in his college football debut, which made him only the second player in NCAA history to record a statistic in an official FBS football game following an MLB career.

Though older than his teammates and opponents, Harrison is far from the record for the oldest college football player. Alan Moore and Tom Thompson will likely share that honor forever, each with an NCAA field goal attempt at 61 years old. Moore kicked for Faulkner University in 2011; before him, Tom Thompson set the record with Austin College.

And here I am, rubbing my knees after checking the mailbox.

[Oldest.com: 7 Oldest College Football Players]



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Dizon’s Disposition: Angel Cervantes not just in it for NIL, UCLA baseball shows strong pitching staff

The average American earns around $1.7 million in their lifetime, according to a 2011 study. Almost no one would turn down the opportunity to earn around $2 million just to sign up for a job that – could – one day, earn them eight figures per year. But incoming freshman right-hander Angel Cervantes did. The […]

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The average American earns around $1.7 million in their lifetime, according to a 2011 study.

Almost no one would turn down the opportunity to earn around $2 million just to sign up for a job that – could – one day, earn them eight figures per year.

But incoming freshman right-hander Angel Cervantes did.

The 2025 MLB Draft’s No. 50 overall pick turned down the Pittsburgh Pirates so he could honor his commitment to UCLA baseball, Cervantes announced in a post on X on Wednesday.

While the Pirates’ offers aren’t public, the MLB gave the Cervantes’ pick a $1.93 million slot value, and the No. 51 and No. 52 overall picks signed for $2.75 million and $2.60 million, respectively.

Not only will the right-hander be an impactful addition to the 2026 team, but it’s a positive indication of what the 2026 squad already is.

Cervantes is betting on himself to make immediate contributions to a team with realistic 2026 national championship aspirations. He’s betting that UCLA and coach John Savage can still develop elite high school arms into the top pitchers in the nation.

He’s putting every young baseball player’s dream on hold for at least three years for the Bruins.

UCLA women's basketball incoming senior center Lauren Betts attempts a layup. (Aidan Sun/Assistant Photo editor)
UCLA women’s basketball incoming senior center Lauren Betts attempts a layup. (Aidan Sun/Assistant Photo editor)

NIL: Not an Instant Lottery

Fans are quick to scream “NIL” whenever something doesn’t make sense in their head.

Like if Cervantes is picking college baseball over affiliated ball, it must be because he’s earning hand over fist in Name, Image and Likeness.

The truth is, he probably isn’t. Most Division I baseball players make little to no money in NIL, and even the nation’s best players on the diamond only make around $40,000 to $50,000 a year, according to College Football Network.

And yes, the House v. NCAA settlement will allow schools to pay players directly. But that $20 to $21 million each school is allotted is for the athletic department as a whole. Meaning UCLA will have to split that pool of money between rising redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava, rising senior guard Donovan Dent, rising senior center Lauren Betts and rising senior gymnast Jordan Chiles before it even opens the checkbook for the rest of the school’s student athletes.

It’s insane to think athletic director Martin Jarmond or Savage are going to hand over a sizable check to an incoming freshman.

Strictly in terms of NIL, it is highly unlikely Cervantes will make back whatever the Pirates could have given him directly from playing college sports.

The gamble Cervantes is likely playing is the one that’s hardly new to college baseball: developing for three-to-four years at a university instead of the minor leagues so that he can re-enter the draft with an increased stock, sign for an even larger signing bonus and fast-track to the majors.

As most Bruin baseball fans know, Gerrit Cole turned down the New York Yankees and their reported $4 million signing bonus after getting drafted No. 28 overall in the 2008 MLB Draft, instead choosing to come to UCLA.

Three years later, Cole had pitched on the biggest stage college baseball has to offer – the Men’s College World Series – and earned himself a then-record-setting $8 million signing bonus from none other than the Pittsburgh Pirates as 2011’s No. 1 overall pick.

While they may not have had the multi-million dollar contract sitting in front of them like Cervantes, the Bruins already boast a plethora of players who could have gone to professional baseball straight out of high school.

It almost seems court-mandated that every broadcast has to mention how rising junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky was a projected first-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft if not for his steadfast commitment to UCLA.

Pirate finger pointing

There’s also the notion that Cervantes just didn’t want to be a part of the Pirates organization.

And while that could be true, the Pirates are far better at developing prep pitchers than most people give them credit for. Mitch Keller – a 2014 second-round pick out of Xavier High School in Iowa – has been a staple of Pittsburgh’s starting rotation since 2022.

Kyle Nicolas and Jared Jones have had setbacks recently, but were both prep-to-pro arms who have a seemingly bright future at PNC Park – both top prospects before exceeding rookie limits in 2024. Additionally, Bubba Chandler, a 2021 third-round pick out of North Oconee High School in Georgia, is currently MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 right-handed pitching prospect.

Plus, if Cervantes’ goal was just to get drafted by a different team, he could go to a junior college – where he’d be able to enter the 2026 MLB Draft – instead of a four-year university like UCLA, where he’d have to wait until 2028 to become eligible for the Rule 4 Draft again.

And if Cervantes’ wish is to turn himself into a top-five pick come 2028 – and earn an eight-figure signing bonus – he’ll still likely end up on a bottom-feeding franchise.

UCLA baseball will be returning almost all of their pitching staff including right handers (Left) incoming sophomore Wylan Moss, (Middle) incoming sophomore Easton Hawk and (Right) incoming senior Michael Barnett, all three contributed to the Bruins historical 2025 season. Left to right: (Jeannie Kim/Daily Bruin senior staff) (Felicia Keller/Daily Bruin senior staff) (Max Zhang/Daily Bruin)
UCLA baseball will be returning almost all of their pitching staff including right handers incoming sophomore Wylan Moss (Left), incoming sophomore Easton Hawk (Middle) and incoming senior Michael Barnett (Right), all three contributed to the Bruins historical 2025 season. Left to right: (Jeannie Kim/Daily Bruin senior staff) (Felicia Keller/Daily Bruin senior staff) (Max Zhang/Daily Bruin)

Rankings or hat pickings?

Yes, UCLA was No. 1 in Baseball America’s “Way Too Early” 2026 top 25 rankings published Tuesday.

Yes, LSU – 2025’s national champions – were No. 1 in last year’s iteration.

But of the remaining 24 teams in last year’s article, only three actually made it to Omaha, Nebraska.

And the rest of Tuesday’s rankings are littered with, as expected, SEC and ACC teams, along with recent powerhouses like Oregon State and Coastal Carolina.

The Bruins are a good team who are returning nearly every player who made a sizable impact in 2025. They arguably have their best shot at a second national title ever.

But it’s hard to overlook how many little things went in UCLA’s favor last season.

The Big Ten doesn’t have the top-heavy talent of the SEC or ACC, and the four former-Pac-12 programs in the conference all finished top five in their inaugural Big Ten regular season.

In the Los Angeles Regional, the Bruins dodged many of their opponents’ top arms, like Arizona State’s Ben Jacobs or UC Irvine’s Ricky Ojeda.

Then UTSA looked nothing like the team that beat then-No. 2 seed Texas, losing to UCLA in two games during the Los Angeles Super Regional.

And then UCLA got to face the tournament’s Cinderella, Murray State, in its first MCWS game.

But LSU and Arkansas sent UCLA home packing after back-to-back beatings that, after the top of the first against the Tigers, never felt particularly close.

In his final press conference of the season, Savage emphasized the need to improve his team’s starting pitching.

Right-hander Cody Delvecchio started the season as the Friday night guy, but struggled early on before becoming academically ineligible for the majority of the season. He was most recently drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 12th round. Rising redshirt senior southpaw Ian May began the year as the Saturday starter, but lost his spot in the weekend rotation after just four starts, only reinserted out of apparent necessity before being moved to the bullpen for the NCAA tournament.

Rising junior right-hander Landon Stump was the Sunday starter all season, but finished 2025 with an ERA north of five while averaging just over four innings per start.

Rising sophomore right-hander Wylan Moss was excellent for much of the season – and earned Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors – but seemingly struggled adjusting to the collegiate baseball workload as a back issue hampered his effectiveness down the stretch.

Luke Rodriguez tossed 51.2 innings in his freshman campaign and had a 2.11 ERA across 21.1 innings pitched in 2025 before becoming academically ineligible. He has since entered the transfer portal.

Rising senior right-hander Michael Barnett has been a dependable workhorse for the past two seasons – and after shockingly going undrafted in the 2025 MLB Draft – is slated for his final season at UCLA. While certainly deserving of a weekend rotation spot, by Savage’s admission, Barnett doesn’t fit the typical profile of a front-of-the-rotation arm.

By Perfect Game rankings, Cervantes arguably has the best pre-college pedigree of a Bruin pitcher since Thatcher Hurd – who had a 1.06 ERA and 48 strikeouts to just 10 walks in his first 34 innings pitched before an injury cut his freshman campaign short, followed by his transfer to LSU.

Additionally, fellow incoming freshman right-hander Zach Strickland went undrafted despite being the No. 86 player in the class, according to Perfect Game, and could compete for a spot as a starter or back-end of the bullpen.

Throw in the anticipated returns of the Bruins’ two hardest throwers – rising sophomore right-handed closer Easton Hawk and rising junior high-leverage right-hander Cal Randall – and the Bruins are set to have a much more competitive pitching staff than they did a year ago.

UCLA baseball celebrates after scoring at Jackie Robinson Stadium. (Max Zhang/Daily Bruin)
UCLA baseball celebrates after scoring at Jackie Robinson Stadium. (Max Zhang/Daily Bruin)

Book your flights?

UCLA has lost little talent to the transfer portal in recent years.

AJ Salgado, who announced his signing to the New York Mets organization as an undrafted free agent via Instagram on Thursday, is the only everyday player the Bruins are losing. The team seems to have his replacement in rising junior center fielder and Texas transfer Will Gasparino, though.

Partnering the strengths of 2025 and adding a revitalized pitching core, UCLA has as good a shot as ever at showering in blue and gold confetti at Charles Schwab Field once again.

And players know that – they want to play for the Bruins.

So much so that they’d turn down seven figures.



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NBA Fans React To Victor Wembanyama, Kylian Mbappé's Latest Post

SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama’s French brand just got a little bigger. After signing a deal to become a Louis Vuitton ambassador upon entering the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs star inked a brand deal with Nike that included exclusive colorways of the Nike GT Hustle 3 and a custom logo. Wembanyama joined Real Madrid […]

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NBA Fans React To Victor Wembanyama, Kylian Mbappé's Latest Post

SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama’s French brand just got a little bigger.

After signing a deal to become a Louis Vuitton ambassador upon entering the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs star inked a brand deal with Nike that included exclusive colorways of the Nike GT Hustle 3 and a custom logo.

Wembanyama joined Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé on the Nike train; the duo is now a trio. French swimmer Léon Marchand recently signed a brand deal with the Portland-based company, and all three athletes were quick to share the news.

“This is not an announcement,” Marchand’s Instagram post read in French. “It is a promise. Proud to come together, with the same goal: continue to write the next chapter of sport history. And trust us, it’s only the beginning.”

NBA fans certainly enjoyed the spectacle.

“They carrying France,” one fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“They all look great,” another added, “and are doing well in their careers.”

“This guy is really tall, though,” another concluded.

As Wembanyama looks to lead the Spurs to their first playoff berth since 2019, his personal brand’s growth will correlate with his on-court success. The same goes for Mbappé, though his reputation already precedes his accolades.

Marchand’s does too, in his own right.

“Léon’s partnership with Nike also begins at a defining moment,” Nike wrote in its announcement of Marchand’s brand deal. “Together with fellow countrymen and Nike athletes Kylian Mbappé and Victor Wembanyama, two of the most influential competitors of their time, Léon embodies a new generation of French athletes who transcend sport.”

Mailbag: Who’s in Starting Lineup? Wembanyama, Offseason, More

Biggest Key for Summer Spurs in Vegas? Starters ‘Showing Up’

Where Does Spurs’ Roster Stand After Kelly Olynyk Signing?

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President Donald Trump signs new executive order affecting all college sports

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has signed a new order that affects all college sports and its players. Trump has informed members of his Cabinet to come up with a plan with a goal for the future of college sports. 3 President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will affect college sportsCredit: AFP 3 Trump […]

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President Donald Trump signs new executive order affecting all college sports

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has signed a new order that affects all college sports and its players.

Trump has informed members of his Cabinet to come up with a plan with a goal for the future of college sports.

President Donald Trump speaking in the Oval Office.

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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will affect college sportsCredit: AFP
President Trump signing executive orders in the White House Cabinet Room.

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Trump signing an executive order in the White House Cabinet Room in AprilCredit: AFP

On Thursday, Trump introduced new rules for the name, image, and likeness to prevent college athletes from becoming professionals.

Trump signed an executive order that sets specific guidelines for keeping athletic scholarships based on a respective athletic department’s annual revenue.

The order seeks to ban “third-party, pay-for-play payments to collegiate athletes,” while still letting athletes receive brand endorsement deals.

It also asks universities and athletics to expand or preserve “scholarships and collegiate athletic opportunities in women’s and non-revenue sports.”

Read More on College Sports

The order said schools with more than $50 million in athletic revenue cannot reduce the number of scholarship opportunities for “non-revenue sports,” which are usually sports other than football and basketball.

“A national solution is urgently needed to prevent this situation from deteriorating beyond report and to protect non-revenue sports, including many women’s sports, that comprise the backbone of intercollegiate athletics,” Trump said in the order.

Schools that receive more than $125 million are called on to increase their non-revenue scholarships in the 2025-26 academic year.

Trump told top administration officials to “develop a plan” within 30 days to advance the order.

It’s not known how the order will be enforced.

Recently, collegiate sports have been change by a landmark policy that allows student-athletes to earn millions of dollars while still being in school.

Arch Manning’s Future: NFL Draft 2026 Uncertainty & Rising Star

In 2021, the NCAA allowed athletes to make money for the use of their name, image and likeness, or NIL.

Since then, numerous student-athletes have been given lucrative brand endorsement deals that were once just common with professional athletes.

Rules restrictring schools from directly paying athletes have loosened.

Earlier this year, a legal settment involving the NCAA has permitted schools to begin sharing revenue with athletes for the first time.

Arch Manning #16 of the Texas Longhorns warming up before a football game.

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Texas Longhorns star Arch Manning and other big names have been given lucrative brand endorsement deals thanks to NILCredit: Getty

Steve Berman, a co-lead plantiff attorney in the antitrust settlement, called out Trump for trying to be involved.

“Plain and simple, college athletes don’t need Trump’s help, and he shouldn’t be aiding the NCAA at the expense of athletes,” Berman said last week.

“… As a result of our case, college athletes are now free to make their own deals.

“For Trump to want to put his foot on their deal-making abilities is unwarranted and flouts his own philosophy on the supposed ‘art of the deal.'”

Read More on The US Sun

The NCAA responded to Thursday’s executive order, saying in a statement that it “appreciates the Trump Administration’s focus on the life-changing opportunities college sports provides millions of young people.

“The NCAA is making positive changes for student-athletes and confronting many challenges facing college sports by mandating health and wellness benefits and guaranteeing scholarships, but there are some threats to college sports that federal legislation can effectively address and the Association is advocating with student-athletes and their schools for a bipartisan solution with Congress and the Administration,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement.

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