'Some judge' destroyed college sports: Trump makes fresh remark after Iran comments

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump said a judge “destroyed college sports” as his administration moved to restrict athlete transfers, eligibility and name, image and likeness compensation.

The order seeks to limit undergraduate athletes to one unrestricted transfer and impose a five-year cap on college eligibility.

Trump made the remarks on Saturday, September 5, in an Oval Office video, one day after he called the Iran fight a “military conflict” and said strikes were “intermittent.”

Trump directly blames a court ruling

Trump blamed a court ruling for changes in college sports, saying, “Some judge made a terrible ruling not so long ago and destroyed college sports.”

He added, “People are leaving the NFL to go play in college. It's supposed to be reversed. Save college sports. Got to do it.”

The White House announced the executive order Friday, describing it as more comprehensive than Trump’s July 2025 “Saving College Sports” order, as per The New York Times.

The new order would allow one undergraduate transfer with immediate eligibility, according to the outlet. 

A second transfer would cost an athlete a year of eligibility, while graduate students would receive one additional free transfer after earning a four-year degree, it said.

The order would also establish five years as the maximum period to compete in college, with no exceptions. 

Currently, most athletes have five years to complete four seasons, while the NCAA has a waiver process for additional eligibility, the newspaper report said.

Congress still faces pressure to act

The new directives conflict with some state laws, previous court rulings and NCAA decisions, including rules allowing multiple immediate transfers.

An executive order cannot create new laws or override existing state laws, and it cannot provide an antitrust exemption.

Trump’s order would end NIL collectives, donor-funded organizations that emerged after the NCAA lifted its ban on athletes earning money from sponsorship and endorsement deals, the report said. 

The order does not set how much schools can pay athletes, it said.

The transfer and eligibility mandates would not take effect until August 1, and whether parts of the order could survive legal challenges is uncertain.

College sports leaders have pushed Congress for a federal law governing compensation and eligibility.

The SCORE Act would provide antitrust protections, preempt certain state laws and prevent college athletes from being treated as employees. 

It has remained stalled in the House since last summer.

Sen Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington and an opponent of SCORE, said the order addressed several issues facing college sports.

“This Executive Order identifies some of the key issues facing college sports, including continued funding for women’s and Olympic sports,” Cantwell said.

NCAA President Charlie Baker called the action significant but said legislation remained necessary.

“Stabilizing college athletics for student-athletes still requires a permanent, bipartisan federal legislative solution,” Baker said.

At a March 6 White House college sports roundtable, Trump had promised a new order within a week, saying, “because that’s the only way this is going to be solved.”

He later acknowledged the measure could face a court challenge: “Let’s see if we can get it through the court system, which we might not be able to do.”

Trump also discussed the Iran fight

Trump’s college sports remarks came one day after he discussed the administration’s fight with Iran.

Trump said, “It's a military conflict, but it's very intermittent. I could see somebody not calling it a war.”

He also said, “We control the Hormuz Strait, and we control it very strongly.”

“We did Venezuela, and we did this in Venezuela. We lost nobody. And in this we lost 18 people. And in Vietnam, you lost 100,000 people. And in other conflicts, you lost tens of thousands of people,” Trump continued. “I would say that it's intermittent. You know, we do intermittent strikes.”