WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump issued an executive order in April 2026 concerning college sports funding and equity, warning that major football programs may withdraw financial support from women’s and Olympic sports without congressional action. The order states: “Without a national solution to protect the future of competition and opportunity in all college sports, it is possible that the largest college football programs will be forced to seek stability through a negotiated solution that may result in the withdrawal of financial and other resources from women’s and Olympic sports.”

The executive order encourages Congress to pass legislation addressing college sports funding and equity. It follows actions by the Trump administration’s Department of Education, which determined that Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) compensation need not be equitably distributed under Title IX. The administration also scrapped Title IX NIL guidance shortly after issuing a separate executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.

Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement: “Without strong Title IX guardrails, many schools will continue to pour money into men’s athletics while under-resourcing women’s sports.” Patel added: “If the Trump administration cared about women’s sports, they would not be undermining Title IX enforcement, they would be ensuring that women athletes are paid fairly and given equal access to facilities and resources.” She also stated: “Trump’s Department of Education scrapped Title IX NIL guidance shortly after issuing an anti-trans sports ban EO early last year, so it’s clear they are using the excuse of ‘defending women’ and ‘protecting women’s sports’ as a cheap cover for targeting trans people and rolling back civil rights protections.”

Arizona State sports historian Victoria Jackson said: “The thing that they are focused on is football. Women may get a good deal out of that as a result.” Jackson also warned: “I do think we’re going to see a number of universities cutting a lot of teams.”

Supporting concerns about program cuts, several college tennis programs were eliminated in spring 2025, though Arkansas’ program was preserved after donor intervention. In March, three University of Louisville administrators wrote an essay warning that Olympic sport student-athletes face reduced cost-of-attendance stipends, diminished Alston payments, and the threat of scholarship reductions or program elimination.

Trump said in a media appearance: “I’d like to go exactly back to what we had and ram it through a court.” The Trump administration has not challenged the settlement in House v NCAA, which awards $2.8 billion in retroactive NIL earnings to current and former college athletes, with 90% allocated to football and men’s basketball players.