The Florida Governor reacted to the President’s executive order on the future of college sports.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis applauded President Donald Trump’s executive order to safeguard the future of college athletics. The Florida Republican said this latest executive order is part of an ongoing nationwide effort to maintain reasonable guardrails on athletic programming and ensure the well-being of college student-athletes.
“This is a great first step toward fixing and preserving college sports,” said Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “As a member of the President’s Saving College Sports Initiative, I am excited to see headway made to fix important issues in the system. Congress must now act to codify these solutions into law.”
The Florida Governor said that it was “great to see” action being taken on reforming college sports. He added that all the items in the executive order “are on point.” He also called on Congress to “step up and codify these reforms.”
President Donald Trump signed the executive order “to preserve the unique American institution of college athletics by restoring order, fairness, and stability,” and said the President recognizes the critical role of American college sports in fostering leadership, education, and community pride, and that decisive action is needed to address urgent threats to its future.
The White House said the Save College Sports executive order directs federal agencies to bolster the effectiveness of key college-sports rules on transferring, eligibility, and pay-for-play by evaluating whether violations of such rules render a university unfit for Federal grants and contracts. Simultaneously, the order calls on the appropriate governing body to update these rules to restore financial stability and protect the future of all college sports, including women’s and Olympic sports by:
- establishing clear, consistent, and fair eligibility limits, including a five-year participation window;
- setting structured transfer rules for academic and athletic continuity;
- ensuring medical care for student-athletes;
- implementing revenue-sharing in a manner that protects and expands opportunities in women’s and Olympic sports;
- banning improper financial arrangements including pay-for-play agreements facilitated by collectives and similar entities; and
- establishing protections against unscrupulous agent conduct
The order directs the Administrator of General Services and the Department of Education to increase data collection across college athletics to ensure compliance, and directs the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and the Attorney General to take appropriate enforcement actions. It also calls on Congress to quickly pass legislation to address these critical issues.
