No other American president since 1961 has issued more executive orders than Donald Trump. And now he’s issued another one, this time to regulate college sports, even though he doesn't have the legal authority to do that.
The latest one, signed by Trump on April 3, is called "Urgent National Action to Save College Sports." It aims to limit athletes’ participation in college sports to five years with some exceptions and calls on the NCAA to establish transfer rules that allow a player to transfer once in five years without penalty, plus an additional time if the athlete graduates. It also aims to protect funding for women’s sports and calls for a crackdown on booster collectives that pay players more than fair-market value for their name, image and likeness (NIL).
It’s Trump's second executive order about college sports since July 2025, when he issued one called “Saving College Sports.” That one had little if any apparent effect. The newest one might not either, simply because it’s an executive order without the backing of a law passed by Congress.
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