Trump's week in review: MLK FBI records released; new order seeks to 'save' college sports

5. Executive order takes aim at compensation for collegiate athletes 

Trump issued an executive order Thursday in response to the National Collegiate Athletic Association allowing student athletes to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness. 

Titled "Saving College Sports" Thursday, the order condems the "out-of-control, rudderless system in which competing university donors engage in bidding wars for the best players." The order follows a federal court settlement last month that cleared the way for universities to pay athletes directly. 

The president warned that paying student athletes has negatively impacted "non-revenue sports" by disproportionately benefiting "revenue-generating sports," such as football and basketball.

In addition to calling for an end to financial compensation for student athletes, the executive order urges collegiate athletics departments with more than $50 million in revenue to "provide the maximum number of roster spots for non-revenue sports permitted under the applicable collegiate athletic rules" during the forthcoming 2025-2026 athletic season.

The order states that collegiate athletics departments with over $125 million in revenue should "provide more scholarship opportunities in non-revenue sports than during the 2024-2025 season."

Collegiate athletics departments making more than $50 million in revenue but less than $125 million should provide at least as many scholarship opportunities in non-revenue sports than they did during this past year while collegiate athletics departments that either have less than $50 million in revenue or do not have revenue-generating sports should not reduce the scholarships available for non-revenue sports. 

Trump claimed that paying student athletes "reduces competition and parity by creating an oligarchy of teams that can simply buy the best players — including the best players from less-wealthy programs at the end of each season" and leads to university donors devoting "ever-escalating resources to compete in the revenue-generating sports like football and basketball." He warned that this "siphons away the resources necessary to support the panoply of non-revenue sports."

The president identified "non-revenue sports, including many women's sports" as "the backbone of intercollegiate athletics" that drives "American superiority at the Olympics and other international competitions" and catalyzes "hundreds of thousands of student-athletes to fuel American success in myriad ways."