Overview

• The executive order bars third-party pay-for-play NIL deals while preserving fair-market compensation for athlete endorsements.
• It tasks the Education Department, Justice Department, FTC, Labor Department and NLRB with defining student-athlete employment status and crafting regulatory, enforcement and litigation strategies.
• Institutions with over $125 million in athletic revenue are urged to expand scholarships in women’s and non-revenue sports, and those earning at least $50 million must maintain current support levels.
• The White House argued that unchecked booster spending has sparked “bidding wars” that jeopardize the financial and structural viability of college athletics.
• Legal experts predict constitutional challenges and enforcement questions loom without new legislation to back the executive order.