From left, linebacker Jack Sawyer, with jersey, President Donald Trump, and head coach Ryan Day attend a ceremony with the 2025 College Football Playoff National Champions Ohio State Buckeyes, on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday, April 14, 2025.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order prohibiting “third party, pay-for-play” payments to college athletes, a move the White House is taking to curb “bidding wars” that have roiled college sports in recent years.
The order, a fact sheet that was shared in advance with NBC News by a White House official, notes that recent court rulings have dismantled the NCAA’s transfer and recruiting rules and “created a chaotic environment that threatens the financial and structural viability of college athletics.”
The order could send shockwaves through college football and men’s basketball, where player recruitment in the so-called transfer portal has become a multimillion-dollar market in recent years, with top teams spending tens of millions to fill out rosters.
The order would not apply to fair-market compensation for athletes who make brand endorsements, according to the White House.
The order also looks to protect women’s and nonrevenue sports by mandating that revenue sharing between universities and college athletes be implemented in a manner that protects those programs.
The president’s order also notes that a patchwork of laws in 30 states have contributed to competitive imbalances in sports.
It was not immediately clear how the proposed order would be enforced, or what mechanisms were in place to ensure revenue is shared more equitably between men’s and women’s and nonrevenue-generating sports.
