New Executive Order Puts College Sports Compensation and NIL Back in Play

A new Executive Order does not change the law today, but it sends a clear message: the executive branch is pushing for a nationwide overhaul of student-athlete compensation, transfers, eligibility, and name, image, and likeness (NIL) related practices.

On April 3, 2026, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Urgent National Action to Save College Sports” (the “Order”). The Order does not impose new regulations or create new law, but it is likely to face legal challenges to the extent the Trump administration seeks to enforce its terms. But by stating the administration’s priorities, the Order encourages Congress, athletic organizations, and other private actors to develop a uniform national standard for how and when student-athletes should be permitted to profit from their NIL through their involvement in college sports, which could have downstream consequences for third parties considering NIL uses that implicate a student-athlete’s rights of publicity.

The Order strongly encourages Congress to pass legislation that addresses these issues and instructs agencies that contract with, or provide grants to, higher education institutions to assess rules based on four key issues: eligibility limits, transfers between institutions, revenue sharing, and the propriety of financial activities.

More particularly, the Order states that before August 1, 2026, interstate intercollegiate athletic governing bodies should, in consultation with student-athletes, update or clarify their rules, “including by establishing the following”:

• Limiting participation in college athletics to five years (with certain exceptions for military and other service in the public interest) and barring professional athletes from returning to college athletics;
• Limiting the ability of student-athletes to transfer schools to one time in a five-year period, plus one additional time if the student-athlete obtains a four-year degree;
• Providing medical care for student-athletes for sports injuries during their time of enrollment and for a reasonable period of time thereafter;
• Implementing revenue sharing between schools and student-athletes in a manner that preserves or expands scholarships and opportunities in women’s and Olympic sports;
• Prohibiting the use of federal funds for (i) student-athlete NIL or revenue-sharing payments or (ii) coaching or athletic compensation;
• Prohibiting third-party pay-for-play payments; and
• Creating a national student-athlete agent registry and protections for student-athletes from excessive agent commissions.

The Order further instructs the secretary of education, the chairman of the FTC, and the attorney general to take appropriate measures to assist in its implementation.

In brief, the Order attempts to impose a national solution to the various efforts by federal and state courts and legislators to address the fallout from NCAA v. Alston, 594 U.S. 69 (2021), in which the Supreme Court struck down the NCAA’s limits on student-athlete compensation on antitrust grounds.

Since that decision, multiple states, athletic organizations, and schools have proposed and (in some cases) implemented a variety of policies and proposals, most notably, by permitting student-athletes to monetize their NIL rights. In addition, the June 6, 2025 settlement in House v. NCAA granted $2.8 billion to Division I student-athletes who competed from 2016 forward, and will allow Division I schools to offer their athletes pay as well as scholarships and other benefits. Considering these events together, some have suggested that the lack of comprehensive rules governing states, athletic organizations, and schools has led to the exploitation of student-athletes and encouraged a “race to the bottom” among states and schools.

Even so, an Executive Order may be a less than ideal way to address this issue, as it does not in itself impose any new regulations, create new law, or invalidate any existing laws, regulations, or legal decisions. Moreover, to the extent the current administration attempts to implement or enforce its provisions unilaterally in the future (for example, by conditioning or withholding future federal funding based on compliance with its terms), it is likely to face legal challenges on various substantive, procedural, and Constitutional grounds.

So, to some extent the Order can be seen as an attempt to “strongly encourage[]” Congress “to expeditiously pass legislation that satisfactorily addresses these issues,” for example, the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act (“SCORE Act”), H.R. 4312 – 119th Congress (2025–2026). The SCORE Act, which was intended to “protect the name, image, and likeness rights of student athletes and to promote fair competition with respect to intercollegiate athletics, and for other purposes,” would have fulfilled many of the same purposes as the Order, but it was pulled prior to a vote on December 3, 2025 because of criticism that it favored the NCAA and other big conferences over student-athletes.

In other words, this new Executive Order can be construed as one more step in an extended process of addressing the increasing professionalism and profitability of college sports, and attempting to reach a fair balance among the interests of schools, student-athletes, interstate intercollegiate athletic organizations, and the public. Although the Order attempts to expedite that process, given the billions of dollars at stake and the various parties with competing interests that are involved, the issue may not be resolved for years to come.