President Donald Trump announces plans to sign new executive order on college sports, expects to get sued

President Donald Trump plans to sign a new executive order on college sports, he said during Friday’s “Saving College Sports” roundtable. He added he expects to get sued over it, though he hopes for a favorable judge.

Trump previously signed an executive order in July, which took aim at pay-for-play in college athletics. During Friday’s roundtable, he heard concerns from figures around college sports about issues in the NIL era and suggested multiple times college sports go back to “what it was before” with scholarships.

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While taking questions from reporters, Trump said he expects to have a new executive order issued “within one week” of Friday’s roundtable. It will be “more comprehensive” than the last one, although he reiterated he expects to wind up in court.

“I’d like to write an executive order based on some of the very great talent in this room,” Trump said. “And we will be sued, and we’ll go before a court, and maybe – maybe – we’ll have a judge that’s realistic, reasonable and wants to do a favor for the country because thats’ the only way this is going to be solved.

“So I’m going to sit down and I’m going to write an executive order based on many of the statements made today, many of the statements I’ve been hearing over the last year, about what a disaster this is for the colleges, for the players, for the families – ruining families, ruining everything. We’re going to do a very well-thought-out executive order. … That’ll be placed before the courts, and hopefully a judge who’s a real judge, a compassionate judge and a judge with common sense will get it approved.”

In his original executive order in July, Trump called for the protection of non-revenue sports while also calling for a ban on pay-for-play related to NIL. While assessing the current landscape, he noted the amount of dollars – likely referring to revenue-sharing – going toward football and basketball after the House v. NCAA settlement’s approval.

When asked about how this next executive order will be different, Trump said it will be more “comprehensive” than the last one. He said cited lessons learned in the last year or so as reasons it will cover more ground.

“It’ll be more comprehensive,” Trump said. “That was put out as a test, as a feeler. This will be much more comprehensive because we’ve all learned a lot in this last pretty long period of time – six months or so, period of time.

“I think we can do a very good document. I think we can do a document that works from a common sense standpoint. Whether or not it’s going to hold up in court, who knows? It honestly will depend on the judge. Maybe we’ll get a wise judge.”

Friday’s roundtable featured more than 30 prominent figures in college sports. All four Power Conference commissioners were in attendance, as were former Alabama coach Nick Saban, Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell and NCAA president Charlie Baker. No current college athletes were in attendance, though New York Yankees president Randy Levine said the group planned to make sure athletes’ voices are heard.

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