Professional Sports in College Sports will Kill Colleges

Money, Money, Money! Money to the best Athlete’s bank accounts. Money to them and Colleges bite the Bullet. It never was meant to pay these Kids such outrageous amounts of money to play in College Sports.

Restoring the “Educational Ideal”: A Policy Framework for the Reform of American College Athletics

Author: Gemini AI

Date: March 7, 2026

Subject: Comprehensive Reform of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) and the Collegiate Model

Executive Summary

The American collegiate athletic system is currently facing an existential crisis. The transition from a scholarship-based amateur model to an unregulated, “pay-for-play” marketplace has created a fiscal and structural imbalance that threatens the survival of non-revenue sports and the financial stability of higher education institutions. Following the March 6, 2026, White House Roundtable, this paper outlines a multi-tiered reform strategy to stabilize the system through federal intervention, national standards, and the preservation of the student-athlete distinction.

I. The Crisis of the Current Model

The 2025 House v. NCAA settlement fundamentally altered the landscape by allowing schools to share up to $20.5 million annually in direct revenue with athletes. While intended to provide stability, this “revenue-sharing” model—combined with third-party NIL collectives—has led to several critical failures:

Financial Insolvency: Many athletic departments are “drowning in red ink,” as the cost of competing for elite talent in football and basketball cannibalizes the budgets of Olympic and women’s programs.
The Death of Non-Revenue Sports: To fund the $20 million revenue-share floor, schools are increasingly cutting sports like gymnastics, swimming, and wrestling, jeopardizing the U.S. Olympic pipeline.
Unrestricted Free Agency: The combination of a 365-day transfer portal and NIL inducements has created a “bidding war” environment, where contracts are frequently breached and team rosters are in constant flux.

II. The Proposed “Stabilization” Framework

To “fix it all,” the reform must move beyond temporary executive orders and toward a codified federal standard.

1. National NIL Standards (The SCORE Act Approach)

The current patchwork of 30+ conflicting state laws must be preempted by federal legislation.

Fair Market Value (FMV): NIL deals must be audited to ensure they represent legitimate marketing services rather than “pay-for-play” inducements.
The NIL Go System: Mandatory registration of all deals over $600 to ensure transparency and prevent illicit booster influence.
Agent Regulation: Establishing federal oversight for sports agents to prevent the exploitation of young athletes.

2. Preservation of Non-Employee Status

A central pillar of the reform is the legal codification that student-athletes are not employees.

Educational Primary: Reaffirming that the primary relationship between the student and the university is academic.
Title IX Protection: By maintaining non-employee status, universities can avoid the “employment” tax and labor complications that would otherwise force the immediate elimination of most women’s sports programs under current labor laws.

3. Protecting the Olympic and Women’s Pipeline

Legislative action must mandate that revenue-sharing does not come at the expense of broad-based athletic opportunities.

Roster Caps vs. Scholarship Limits: Implementing the new “roster cap” system (e.g., 105 for football) while requiring a minimum number of scholarships for non-revenue sports to maintain gender equity.
Governmental Subsidies: Exploring tax exemptions for NIL earnings in Olympic sports to incentivize participation in disciplines that do not generate high broadcast revenue.

III. Implementation: The Two-Step Solution

President Trump’s recent announcement suggests a dual-pathway approach:

Phase	Action	Objective
Phase 1: Executive	All-Encompassing Executive Order	Prohibit third-party “pay-for-play,” direct the DOL to clarify non-employee status, and protect non-revenue scholarships.
Phase 2: Legislative	The SCORE Act / Congressional Action	Provide a limited antitrust exemption to the NCAA, allowing them to enforce rules (like transfer restrictions) without constant litigation.

IV. Conclusion: Returning to “The Old System” (With Modern Adjustments)

The goal is not to deny athletes the right to earn, but to return to a system where education is the currency. By capping roster spending and restricting the “free agency” of the transfer portal, the collegiate system can regain its competitive balance. If the system is not reformed to protect the “educational ideal,” the American university will transition into a mere farm system for professional leagues, bankrupting the very institutions that provide the scholarships.

Would you like to see a draft the specific “Executive Order” language mentioned in the March 6th roundtable?

To provide a comprehensive view of how to fix college sports and NIL, I will outline the key elements of the proposed executive action and the legislative framework discussed. Here are the specific steps to be taken:

The “Saving College Sports” Executive Order

This “all-encompassing” order, set to be signed within a week, aims to provide an immediate “pause” and bring stability to the NCAA’s current financial and regulatory crisis.

1. Prohibiting “Pay-for-Play” Inducements

The Directive: The order will immediately prohibit the use of NIL payments as direct “pay-for-play” inducements. Money cannot be used as a recruitment or retention tool to attract athletes to a specific school or prevent them from transferring.
Targeting Third-Party Collectives: This action will specifically restrict the influence of wealthy booster-led “collectives” that are currently operating as a “shadow marketplace” for athletic talent, bypassing traditional school control and creating massive competitive imbalances.

2. Direct Labor Department Clarification (Non-Employee Status)

Protecting Student Status: The order will direct the Department of Labor to clarify that student-athletes are not employees of their universities under federal law. This is the cornerstone of the reform, designed to preserve the “educational ideal” of college athletics.
Avoiding Financial Catastrophe: By ensuring athletes are not employees, schools avoid the requirement of paying wages, offering employee benefits, and paying related payroll taxes. This step is critical to prevent the immediate bankruptcy of many athletic departments that Trump warned are already “drowning in red ink.”

3. Maintaining Broad-Based Opportunities

Mandate for Olympic and Women’s Sports: The order will include provisions mandating that revenue-sharing dollars (resulting from the House v. NCAA settlement) must not be funded by cutting non-revenue, Olympic, and women’s sports. It will force athletic departments to find efficiencies elsewhere rather than immediately eliminating the opportunities of thousands of non-football/basketball athletes.

The Federal Legislative Framework (The SCORE Act Approach)

While the executive order provides an immediate fix, President Trump and the roundtable participants (like Senator Cruz) emphasized that permanent stability requires Congress to act. The legislative framework would establish national standards to replace the current state-by-state patchwork.

1. A Uniform National Standard for NIL

Federal Preemption: Congress will pass a law establishing one set of NIL rules that applies to all schools, overriding conflicting state laws that currently allow for an unregulated “wild west” environment.
Fair Market Value (FMV) Audit: The law will create a mechanism to evaluate NIL deals. Payments must represent legitimate “Fair Market Value” for a marketing service (e.g., a local dealership commercial or an autograph signing). Deals that are found to be wildly inflated or lacking actual deliverables (i.e., disguised pay-for-play) will be banned.

2. Limited Antitrust Exemption for the NCAA

Restoring Enforcement Power: The legislation will grant the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption. This is essential to allow the NCAA to create and, more importantly, enforce competitive rules without being constantly sued.
Key Rules to Reinstate: This exemption would allow the NCAA to legally restrict “free agency” (e.g., restoring transfer restrictions like a “sit-out year” unless specific criteria are met) to bring structure and stability back to rosters.

3. Creation of a National Oversight Body

The NIL “Commission”: A new national entity (either the NCAA with new federal powers or a dedicated federal commission) will be created to enforce the new NIL laws, audit deals for Fair Market Value, register all agents, and penalize violators.
Agent Regulation: The law will require all agents and financial advisors working with college athletes to be licensed and registered federally to prevent exploitation.

By combining the immediate stabilizing effect of the Executive Order with the long-term structure provided by Congressional Action, this framework aims to restore competitive balance, prevent the elimination of the U.S. Olympic pipeline, and ensure that the “whole educational system” is not bankrupted by the professionalization of its athletic programs.