College sports needs Congress to fix NIL, Trump says, while promising executive order

March 6 : U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday the soaring cost of college football programs is hurting collegiate sports in general, and vowed to issue a fresh executive order on the topic within a week.

Speaking at a White House East Room gathering of lawmakers, college sports commissioners, coaches and former athletes, Trump said he expects his directive to be challenged in court, and emphasized that Congress should solve the problem with legislation.

"We have to save college sports," Trump said at the event.

Trump issued an executive order in July that sought to block some recruiting payments by third parties to college athletes in big-money sports like football and men's basketball, in order to preserve funds available for women's and non-revenue sports.

The new order will be "more comprehensive" than last year's effort, the Republican president said. 

The value of name, image and likeness - known as NIL - contracts has been rising, especially for football players, creating a costly burden for colleges that is forcing some of them to abandon some other sports, Trump said.

Congress must approve legislation on rules governing NIL deals, Trump said.

Until five years ago, the NCAA prohibited college athletes from accepting compensation for the use of their name, image and likeness. After a 2021 Supreme Court ruling, the NCAA changed its rules to allow college athletes to be paid.

"The amount of money being spent and lost by otherwise very successful schools is astounding," Trump said.

Trump expressed fondness for the old system under which players received only scholarships as compensation, although he acknowledged that there was no going back to that time.

The U.S. House of Representatives for the past several months has