WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing new rules for college athletics and repeated his call for Congress to pass legislation to rein in college sports. He made the remarks at a White House event honoring some 100 athletes from seven teams that won NCAA championships in 2025.

The order would limit eligibility to five years, allow one transfer without penalty for undergraduates, stop pay-for-play schemes and build in protections for women's and Olympic sports. Some college sports stakeholders are asking for federal legislation to codify restrictions and grant the NCAA an antitrust exemption to enforce rules.

"It's a very precarious position the courts have left us in," Trump said. "And now it's a total and complete mess. But we're going to get it fixed up and we've got fantastic people doing it. So we need now Congress to act to clear up the confusion created by the courts and institute permanent reforms to protect college sports at every level, especially some sports."

Trump said it is unfair for athletes straight out of high school to compete against 28- or 29-year-olds. Dozens of athletes have challenged NCAA eligibility rules in hopes of extending their college careers and their ability to earn money through name, image and likeness deals.

Trump also tied the state of college athletics to the pipeline for U.S. Olympic competitors. "Seventy-five percent of Olympians competing for Team USA played as college athletes," he said. "If we don't straighten out this, we're not going to have much of an Olympic team because you have so many of these sports, especially certain sports where it's like the minor leagues, call it the major leagues, whatever you want. But we've trained unbelievable athletes to go in and win the gold medal. Without college sports and without your ability to go into college sports and compete and learn how to play and get better, we're not going to have much of an Olympic team anymore," he said.

The national championship teams honored at the event were Oklahoma State in men's golf, Texas A&M in women's volleyball, Wake Forest in men's tennis, Georgia in women's tennis, Youngstown State in women's bowling, Florida State in women's soccer and West Virginia in mixed rifle.