Marshaun Roundtree

Many college "leaders" are celebrating President Trump's signing of an executive order that will purportedly save college sports. What their commentaries fail to highlight is that the order does not create any rules. It does not grant the NCAA an antitrust exemption. It does not and cannot declare that NCAA rules are immune from legal challenge. It tells the NCAA and federal agencies to do certain things (such as returning to a one-time transfer with immediate eligibility rule and preempting state NIL laws). However, each of those things must still comply with existing law and survive judicial review. The order says so in Section 4(b), which conditions the NCAA's rulemaking mandate on actions taken "to the extent permitted by law and applicable court orders." The executive order's enforcement mechanism is federal funding. That's a real threat. However, conditioning federal funding on compliance with an executive order is something that courts are willing to scrutinize and reject when the legal foundation is insufficient. And let's not forget that at his roundtable one month ago, President Trump said he anticipated any executive order he signed would be challenged in court. I expect the NCAA to attempt to adopt rules consistent with the executive order's directives, and that challenges will be brought to the courts. Congress will hold more hearings on college sports. No bills will be passed. Lawyers will bill more hours (thanks, President Trump!), state attorneys general will fight back against the federal government interfering with their state laws, and the courts will strike down any new policies that violate antitrust law.