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President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order for college sports this week after hosting a roundtable on several hot-button issues last month.
CBS News reported that the order, which would be Trump’s second, could be signed as early as Friday. The outlet added that the order will aim to increase the NCAA’s control over athletes amid the new era of name, image and likeness.
Last month, Trump hosted NCAA President Charlie Baker, former Alabama head football coach Nick Saban, New York Yankees President Randy Levine and each of the Power Four commissioners, among others, at a roundtable. Trump convened the roundtable to explore solutions to key challenges, including NCAA authority, NIL issues, collective bargaining and government concerns.
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United States President Donald Trump looks on during a roundtable discussion on college sports in the East Room of the White House on March 6, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“This is the future, I think, beyond college sports. This is the future of colleges,” Trump said to start the roundtable. “The amount of money being spent and lost by otherwise very successful schools is astounding in a short period of time. It’s only going to get worse. We need to save college sports and, I think, the high schools.
“Crazy things are happening… We have a seven-year freshman. We’re seeing things we’ve never seen before. College players who don’t want to go pro because they make more money in college,” he added.
Trump said he would write an executive order “based on a great deal of common sense.”
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 14: United States President Donald Trump holds up a football presented to Trump during a ceremony to present the Commander-in-Chief Trophy to the Navy Midshipmen football team in the East Room of the White House on April 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Commander-in-Chief Trophy is awarded to the winner of the American College Football Playoff among the teams from the US Military Academy (Army Black Knights), US Naval Academy (Navy Midshipmen) and US Air Force Academy (Air Force Falcons). (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
SCORE ACT RECEIVES SUPPORT FROM OVER 20 CONSERVATIVE GROUPS AS ZERO REFORM IS FIGHTED
The SCORE Act was at the forefront of the round table discussion. It was scheduled for a vote in December but the vote was canceled shortly before. The White House approved the act, but three Republicans — Byron Donalds of Florida, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Chip Roy of Texas — voted with Democrats not to bring the act to the floor. Democrats have largely opposed the bill and urged members of the House to vote against it.
The law would grant the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption in hopes of protecting the NCAA from potential lawsuits over eligibility rules and would prohibit athletes from becoming employees of their schools. It prohibits schools from using tuition fees to fund NIL payments.
The president’s July order prohibits athletes from receiving pay-to-play payments from third-party sources. However, the order imposed no restrictions on NIL payments to college athletes from third-party sources. It also requires the schools to maintain resources for the non-revenue-generating sports.
President Donald Trump looks on before the U.S. Army-Navy college football game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland on December 13, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/AFP)
A month before Trump’s order, a judge approved a settlement between the NCAA, its most powerful conferences and lawyers representing all Division I athletes. The settlement means the NCAA will pay close to $2.8 billion in back injury damages over the next 10 years to college athletes who competed from 2016 to 2025. The settlement also allows college programs to pay athletes directly.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order to keep the Army-Navy game as a stand-alone contest.
