Donald Trump to Sign Executive Order to Limit Transfers, Provide Structure for NIL and Other Changes to College Athletics

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order on Friday that seems intent on rolling back the clock on some of the changes surrounding college athletics while providing a layer of structure surrounding others.

All of this could be overturned through the judicial system, but if it stands, here’s what the executive order changes when it goes into effect on Aug. 1.

The executive order limits college athletes to collegiate careers which must be completed within five years.

Medical exceptions are not addressed, suggesting medical redshirts might be a thing of the past if this stands. Military service, missionary service and other absences “from participation that are in the public interest” are permitted to extend the five-year window.

Professional athletes are specifically barred from returning to college athletics.

CBS Sports reported that the executive order officially grants every athlete five seasons, seemingly without the current limitation imposed by the redshirt rule, which requires one of those seasons to be on the bench for most, if not all, of that season. While not spelled as clearly as other areas, that interpretation makes sense given the wording used here and the larger conversation in recent years around moving to a five-season model instead of a four-year plus redshirt system.

That’s particularly noticeable for soon-to-be seniors like Stailee Heard, who could go into next year with another year in the bag. It could also be a big boost for freshmen in other sports, including Cowboy wrestling’s trio of national champions who could now chase historic levels of success.

It’s unclear how this would impact seniors, like Cowgirl softball ace Ruby Meylan, who exhaust their eligibility this offseason.

The order also proposes limiting athletes to one transfer with immediate eligibility during that five-year period and one additional transfer with immediate eligibility if the student-athlete completes a four-year degree. This would greatly limit who enters the transfer portal each season and would probably force many athletes to wait until later in their careers to jump ship, since they only get one shot at starting over unless they complete their degree.

This won’t impact basketball players who choose to enter the transfer portal next week or other athletes who choose to enter the transfer portal during their sport-specific windows between now and August.

The order also provides some regulation of NIL collectives and requires colleges to provide a certain level of funding for both women’s sports and Olympic sports. In theory, this would provide some kind of safety net for most sports that typically struggle to generate revenue.

The order states: “Without a national solution to protect the future of competition and opportunity in all college sports, it is possible that the largest college football programs will be forced to seek stability through a negotiated solution that may result in the withdrawal of financial and other resources from women’s and Olympic sports.”

The order specifically bars programs and individuals from tampering with student-athletes currently under contract with other federally funded higher education programs.

It also bars programs and individuals from participating in a “fraudulent NIL scheme” defined here as a “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.”

Revenue share payments don’t fall under NIL rules, suggesting that programs are free to use that pay their athletes whatever they think is fair, assuming that doesn’t infringe on the other specifics outlined by the order.