President Trump intends to sign an executive order in the coming days establishing national standards for the NCAA’s Name, Image and Likeness program, which has reaped millions of dollars in revenue for top college athletes, according to multiple people familiar with his plans.

College athletes can now make millions before ever going pro thanks to a set of NCAA rules enacted in 2021 that relaxed previous restrictions on being compensated for playing or accepting endorsement deals. Student athletes can now profit from merely showing up to play, or from jersey sales, autographs or serving as spokespeople for companies ranging from global brands to car dealerships near campus.

Mr. Trump is engaging on an issue that has quickly reshaped and, in many ways, roiled college athletics after a House subcommittee on Tuesday advanced a bill along party lines that would establish national standards for sponsorships. The legislation, called the “SCORE Act,” would supersede a patchwork of state laws regulating Name, Image and Likeness, or NIL.

While the bill has bipartisan support, there is also bipartisan concern it would give too much power to the NCAA and do little to protect the interests of college athletes.

The NCAA’s decision in 2021 to let athletes earn money from NIL deals followed years of political and legal pressure on the collegiate sports giant. For decades, the NCAA imposed steep limits on compensation for student athletes, which it argued were necessary to insulate college athletics from commercial pressures. But opponents — including many college athletes — had long argued the rules unfairly cut them out of the millions in revenue that sports like football and basketball can bring in for universities. 

Last month, in a massive shakeup, a federal judge signed off on a legal settlement in which the NCAA agreed to let schools pay student athletes directly.

Trump has regularly engaged with professional and college sports of all sorts since and even before retaking office. Whether attending the storied Army-Navy football game last December or stealing the spotlight at last Sunday’s Club World Cup championship, the future of sports is a frequent presidential concern.

The White House didn’t immediately return requests for comment late Tuesday. 

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark broke down in tears in the final seconds of Tuesday’s game against the Connecticut Sun after appearing to tweak a groin injury. She reached for her leg after an apparent non-contact issue.

Clark was bringing the ball up the court with about 40 seconds left to play when she kicked it inside to Kelsey Mitchell for a layup. As Connecticut called timeout, the former Iowa star was visibly in pain and reaching for her left leg as she headed toward the basket.

Once she got to the bench, Clark put a towel over her head and was visibly emotional off the bench. Replays showed she pulled up after the backdoor pass and reached for the inside of her right leg as the whistle blew.

Clark played 28 minutes in Tuesday’s 85-77 victory over the Sun, totaling 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. However, her shooting struggles continued as she went just 4-for-14 from the field, including 1-of-7 from three-point distance. Her lone make from downtown came in the fourth quarter.

Entering Tuesday, Clark made just 29.5% of her shots over her last six games, with the lone bright spot coming in a 19-point showing in a loss to the Las Vegas Aces. Last time out against the Dallas Wings, Clark had 14 points, but shot 4-for-12 from the field.

However, Clark is keeping things in perspective amid the rough stretch. She said it’s all about staying confident and getting just one or two shots to fall. Then, hopefully, she’ll turn things back around.

“I still probably didn’t shoot it as good as I would have liked, but I feel like it’s coming,” Clark said, via the Indianapolis Star’s Chloe Peterson. “Just trying to continue to get my legs under me. And, like I said, pregame, like I feel like I’m a couple shots away from, like, having a really good game.”

Despite the slump, Caitlin Clark is in the midst of a huge second season in the WNBA despite dealing with injuries throughout the year. She entered Tuesday’s game averaging 16.7 points to go with 9.0 assists and 4.8 rebounds. In addition, she’s preparing for her first WNBA three-point contest when the game comes to Indiana this weekend.

The Fever are scheduled to take on the New York Liberty on Wednesday at Barclays Center. That will mark the final game before the All-Star break.

CLEMSON — The current era of college football has created numerous challenges for coaching staffs across the country.

One of the biggest comes on the recruiting trail. Make no mistake, recruiting has always been a cutthroat business, but at the end of the day, many recruitments tended to boil down to relationships. With the advent of NIL and the new revenue-sharing model that just began on July 1, relationships are starting to take a backseat for many in what has become a more transactional process.

At Clemson, Dabo Swinney has always strived to make his program different. The two-time national title-winning head coach has cultivated a culture inside his program that tends to really resonate with a lot of recruits. However, in this era, that’s not always enough.

For example, just over a week ago, Clemson missed on five-star DL Bryce Perry-Wright, who had been trending towards the Tigers for more than a year. A recruit who visited Clemson far more than any other school.

Defensive tackles coach Nick Eason, who was heavily involved in that recruitment, went in-depth on the difficulties coaches experience recruiting in today’s landscape. While he wasn’t referencing any player specifically, Eason readily admits those big boy battles are now harder to win, but at the same time, he still fully believes in the process at Clemson.

“We just have to be intentional about who we are,” Eason said during Clemson Football’s Media Outing at the Allen Reeves Football Complex on Tuesday. “Not compromising the things coach Swinney has built this program on. And that is graduating our players, equipping them with tools for life, making sure they have a great college experience, and obviously winning a championship.”

And for Eason, the foundation of that process will always start and stop with the relationships.

“You can not compromise giving up the relationships because of what is going on in college football,” Eason added. “I am still going to be intentional about building relationships. It is still a relationship business.”

Some schools have begun routinely handing out seven-figure deals to players fresh out of high school. Players who have never taken a snap at the collegiate level.

With the new revenue-sharing model now in place, Clemson is much better positioned to compete for highly-rated recruits in this new era. The Tigers did recently beat Texas head-to-head for a four-star defensive end in Dre Quinn. However, Swinney, nor any of his assistants, will ever compromise the culture he has worked so hard to build.

“That is just kind of where the landscape of college football is at with NIL,” Eason said. “But it is my job to just continue to be who I am and continue to build the relationships, because the relationships do matter. Who you work with matters. Who you are playing with matters. Coaching matters. And who you are getting coached by matters.”

Eason has been on the winning side of enough of those kinds of recruitments to know Clemson’s approach still works. In the last class, Eason landed five-star Amare Adams, winning out over Georgia and South Carolina. Two classes before that, he beat out Alabama for five-star Peter Woods.

However, he also knows he won’t win them all. No school ever does.

“Control the things I can control. That is all I can control,” Eason said. “How I treat people. How I build relationships and how I recruit. How I am intentional in knowing what our program is about. Just continuing to extend that message that comes from our head coach. That is all I can control.

“I can’t control the NIL world, and that isn’t my job to do that. My job is to love on the players I currently have, continue to recruit elite talent, and let the chips fall where they may. Because this is Clemson. A lot of players, recruits and their families are still looking for what we are about, and that can help us win national championships.”

Photo courtesy of Bart Boatwright

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Today’s something good starts with long lines outside Doak Campbell Stadium.

Florida State University football players like FSU linebacker Justin Cryer and student athletes handed out bags full of groceries and gave away school supplies.

“Just with how things are in today’s age of NIL college football, you know it’s we can, we can lose track of that. So support for us to stay grounded and to just get back with our community because we know they come out every day in this in the stadium and cheer loud for us, and it’s important that we just show that we care and now we’re here for them,” Cryer said.

More good news:

The Norvell’s Keep Climbing Family Foundation teamed up with Second Harvest on Tuesday to make the giveaway possible.

More than 150 families received food and supplies at the event.

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The great thing about sports documentaries is that they can cover a huge, HUGE amount of events. Obviously, the stuff that immediately comes to mind are the huge sporting events from around the world, but if you think smaller, think more niche, there is very likely a fantastic documentary dealing with that event too.

Fascinated by deep-sea diving? A must-watch for you is The Deepest Breath. A lover of e-sports? Then you have to check out The King Of Kong. Looking for something completely left field but still super competitive? Spellbound is the one for you, set in the world of spelling bees.

Sports fans tend to follow more than just the games—news, stats, even things like betting offers often come up in the mix. These documentaries tap into that same wide interest, showing how deep the love for competition can go.

See what we mean? There is quite literally something for everyone. Whittling down that list to five of the best is tough, but these picks are tremendous, and some of the best movies ever made, not just under the banner of sports documentaries.

So on with our five picks, and where to watch them* right now:

Free Solo – Disney+

From the description alone, you would be forgiven for thinking this isn’t going to be THAT interesting a watch, as the documentary profiles rock climber Alex Honnold on his quest to perform the first-ever free solo climb of a route on El Capitan, a vertical rock formation found in Yosemite National Park in California. So you’ll have to trust us when we tell you this is one of the most edge-of-your-seat movies you’ll ever see, and it proved to be so impressive that it went on to win the Best Documentary Oscar back in 2019.

Murderball – rent on Apple TV

This documentary focuses on the intense rivalry between the American and Canadian wheelchair rugby teams in the run-up to the 2004 Paralympic Games taking place in Athens, Greece. We get to know the players and their families, who all talk openly and frankly about their injuries, personal lives, and the love of the game that has them all vying for the gold. This movie was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2006 Oscars, but lost out to March of the Penguins.

Icarus – Netflix

Some of the best documentaries are those that begin filming with something specific in mind – in this case, director Bryan Fogel wanted to expose the inadequacy of the procedures to catch athletes using performance-enhancing substances – but become something else over the course of the movie being made – here, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation of doping in Russia led to the head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory to flee his country and become a whistleblower. Icarus went on to win the 2018 Best Documentary Feature Oscar.

Senna – Netflix

Arguably one of the best and most impactful documentaries not to even be nominated for an Oscar, this film tells the story of much-loved Brazilian motor-racing champion Ayrton Senna. Directed by Asif Kapadia (who went on to win an Oscar in 2016 for his Amy Winehouse documentary), it tells us about Senna’s life, death, and intimate rivalry with fellow driver Alain Prost through archival race footage and home video recorded by Senna’s friends and family.

When We Were Kings – Sky/NOW

Another Best Documentary Picture winner, focusing on the night of The Rumble in the Jungle in 1974. Betting offers on underdog Muhammad Ali were 4-1 against the then-unbeaten, heavy-hitting George Forman. It took director Leon Gast over 22 years to edit and finance before it could be released in 2006, when it was met with immediate critical acclaim, and the movie is still considered to be one of the best sports documentaries ever made.

*Information correct for readers in the UK and Ireland at the time of writing