Trump to sign executive order to expand NCAA's control over college sports

Politics Trump to sign executive order to expand NCAA's control over college sports By Olivia Rinaldi Olivia Rinaldi White House reporter Olivia Rinaldi is a White House reporter at CBS News. She covered President Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and was previously an associate producer for "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell" and a broadcast associate for "Face the Nation." She is based in Washington, D.C. Read Full Bio Olivia Rinaldi April 3, 2026 / 2:52 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google President Trump is expected to sign an executive order as soon as Friday regarding National Collegiate Athletic Association control over collegiate sports, according to a senior White House official. The president's order aims to increase the NCAA's control over college athletes and programs and threatens to review federal government grants and contracts for colleges and universities that don't comply with NCAA rules. Name, image and likeness — or NIL — rights granted by a court settlement mean that Division I student-athletes may be directly paid by colleges. The president has railed against the new system, which is costing some schools millions in payments. The $2.8 billion settlement was retroactive, so colleges are on the hook for NIL opportunities denied to student-athletes from 2016-2025.  File: President Trump speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Aaron Schwartz / CNP / Bloomberg via Getty Images / Aaron Schwartz - Pool via CNP "What they've done is destroyed college sports and destroying colleges because colleges can't afford to pay quarterbacks, that never threw a ball before, that a 17 years old, $12 million dollars to play college, because every college is going to go bankrupt.," Trump said in a speech to the Republican congressional campaign arm in March. The president has also publicly lamented about how the new NIL policies could affec...