Donald Trump considers executive order on NCAA athletes' employment status - ESPN

President Donald Trump is considering an executive order that would require federal authorities to clarify whether college athletes can be considered employees of their schools, according to a draft copy of the order obtained this week by ESPN.

The draft calls on the Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to «determine and implement the appropriate measures with respect to clarifying the status of collegiate athletes.» The draft states the employment status of college athletes should «maximize the educational benefits and opportunities» schools can provide through their athletic departments.

College sports leaders and several Republican lawmakers have been attempting for the past several years to block athletes from obtaining employee rights, because they say many athletic departments would not be able to afford the added costs that would come with employment.

While Trump's potential order would not explicitly ban employment (the president does not have the authority to make that decision in an executive order), it does echo those concerns while demanding that the NLRB and Secretary of Labor clarify employee status for college athletes.

The news of a potential executive order was met with surprise around college sports earlier this week, after a CBS News story late Tuesday. Sources cautioned to ESPN that Trump may not go through with the executive order, which appears to be more supportive of college athletics rather than prescribing any specific transformational changes.

The White House press office did not respond to a request for comment.

The order, if signed in its current draft form, would also establish a commission to determine ways in which Trump's office could support «the preservation of