WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated his call for Congress to pass legislation to rein in college sports at a time when athletes are allowed to move freely from school to school and demand salaries that put athletic departments in financial jeopardy.
Trump's comments came at an event at the White House honoring about 100 athletes from seven teams that won NCAA championships in 2025.
Trump this month signed an executive order that would limit eligibility to five years, allow penalty-free transfer for college students, halt pay-for-play schemes and establish protections for women's and Olympic sports.
Some aspects of the executive order may not stand up to legal scrutiny, which is why Trump and some stakeholders in college sports are calling for federal legislation that would codify the restrictions and give the NCAA an antitrust exemption to enforce the rules.
Dozens of athletes have challenged the NCAA's eligibility rules in hopes of extending their college careers and, in turn, their ability to earn money through name, image and likeness deals. He said it's unfair for athletes fresh out of high school to compete against 28- or 29-year-olds.
“It's a very precarious position that the courts have left us in,” Trump said, adding that the 2025 settlement in House v. NCAA created a professional model that has led to financial instability for universities. “And now it's a complete and total disaster. But we're going to fix it and we have fantastic people doing it. So now we need Congress to act to clear up the confusion created by the courts and institute permanent reforms to protect college sports at all levels, especially some sports.”
The national championship teams honored were Oklahoma State in men's golf, Texas A&M in women's volleyball, Wake Forest in men's tennis, Georgia in women's tennis, Youngstown State in women's bowling, Florida State in women's soccer and West Virginia in co-ed rifle.
“Seventy-five percent of the Olympic athletes competing for Team USA played as college athletes,” Trump said. “If we don't fix this, we're not going to have a great Olympic team because there are a lot of these sports, especially certain sports where they're like minor leagues, call them major leagues, whatever you want. But we've trained incredible athletes to go in and win the gold medal. Without college sports and without your ability to participate in college sports and compete and learn how to play and get better, we're not going to have an Olympic team anymore.”
