INDIANAPOLIS – As the college basketball world prepares for the Final Four this weekend, President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order aimed at saving college sports, which could be released on Friday, or in the coming days.
The optics around the timing of this EO have been a hot-button issue over the past few days, with the transfer portal set to open next Tuesday in college basketball.
So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this order, and not the games itself. This would not pertain to the upcoming transfer portal period for basketball.
Some of the key topics included in the new order try to curtail NIL collectives, along with allowing players to have five years to play five seasons. But, one of the most drastic changes was the committee who helped write this executive order helping implement a change to the transfer process.
The new order will also discuss a “one-time” transfer guardrail, which would allow athletes to transfer one time without being penalized, though a second time in the portal would result in them automatically triggering a redshirt season.
It should be made clear that the executive order is not a form of legislation, nor does it sit higher than any court injunction that is currently in place.
According to the order, ‘Fraudulent NIL Schemes’ will be looked into. What does that mean?
“A scheme to pay for goods or services, including NIL services, above the actual fair market value of those goods or services in connection with a student-athlete’s participation in intercollegiate athletics, including through the use of collectives or similar entities,” the executive order states.
Also, the order implies the NCAA to have new rules in place by August that are permitted by current laws, which would bring stability to the ‘landscape in certain areas, including transfers’ that are problems within collegiate sports.
Will any of this hold up in a court of law? There are not many who think so at the current time, which is why the White House expects this to end up in multiple courtrooms.
Obviously, this is going to lead to further lawsuits pertaining to eligibility and transferring, as athletes have decided that taking the NCAA to court in a local jurisdiction is the most beneficial route in potentially getting a favorable judge to rule in their favor.
“We will be sued, and it will go before a court, and maybe we’ll have a judge that thinks it’s reasonable and wants to do a favor for the country, because that’s the only way this is going to be solved,” President Trump said last month.
In the upcoming order, President Trump is putting an emphasis on funding Olympic and women’s sports, with increased funding that would also come with schools being pushed to make sure roster spots are not decreased so that funding could go towards football or basketball.
“This is the future of colleges, the amount of money being spent by a massive amount of schools, we have to save colleges and our Olympic teams,” Donald Trump noted last month at the College Sports Roundtable.
One of the bigger problems is Congress not garnering enough support to pass any type of legislation that would present a more steadfast plan that could end up with the federal government installing stricter rules around college sports.
Also, if schools do not comply with the executive order, the federal government could start pulling funding from the schools if they were to violate NCAA rules. That alone will spur arguments over the rule of law pertaining to this order.
The SCORE Act has now failed to reach the House floor twice, but garnering enough votes has been the biggest obstacle over the past two years. And, it would also have to pass through the Senate, with Democrats holding firm with their stance on the Act needing more work towards athletes’ rights.
Coming out of the roundtable in Washington, the president organized five committees that would attack certain elements of college sports that need work, which would then potentially lead to Congress having a better understanding of current problems that need to be included in legislation.
Nick Saban, Adam Silver, Cody Campbell and commissioners from conferences like the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and ACC have been involved in these discussions over the past few weeks.
Now, with the President signing this EO, which he was already expecting to be sued over, you can count on lawyers having a field-day with certain actions that could be coming in the near future.