Trump Education Department Pulls Biden’s NIL Pay Equity Rule

The Department of Education is rescinding weeks-old guidance mandating that NIL (name, image, and likeness) resources from athletic departments and revenue-sharing payments be “proportionate” between men’s and women’s sports.

The Biden Administration had issued the guidance in its final days, citing Title IX—the statute that prohibits discrimination in schools “on the basis of sex” and has come to also require equity in sports. Republicans quickly signaled they would move to reverse the guidance once President Donald Trump returned to office.

“The NIL guidance, rammed through by the Biden Administration in its final days, is overly burdensome, profoundly unfair, and it goes well beyond what agency guidance is intended to achieve,” the agency said in a statement Wednesday. 

The agency took down the NIL guidance Tuesday, but did not confirm the policy had been rescinded until Wednesday morning. It’s one of several Biden-era directives related to Title IX that the Trump Administration has quickly reversed.

The guidance most notably had said that revenue-sharing payments stemming from the House v. NCAA settlement would have to be proportionate for men’s and women’s sports athletes, as the agency had classified them as a form of financial aid. The department decided to release the guidance before the settlement was approved because a number of athletic departments had announced plans to give the lion’s share of the payments to football and men’s basketball players, a source had previously told Front Office Sports. Many schools have said they plan to award 75% of total revenue-sharing allocations to their football players. The guidance was also cited in an objection to the House v. NCAA settlement, which said the settlement’s terms violated Title IX.

But the Trump-controlled Dept. of Ed said the agency didn’t have the legal backing to mandate equitable payments. 

“Title IX says nothing about how revenue-generating athletics programs should allocate compensation among student athletes,” the agency said. “The claim that Title IX forces schools and colleges to distribute student-athlete revenues proportionately based on gender equity considerations is sweeping and would require clear legal authority to support it. That does not exist.”

Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, applauded the interpretation in a statement Wednesday. “Government intervention and mandates kill opportunities for athletes, especially in women’s and Olympic sports,” he said. “I am glad President Trump and his administration have righted this wrong.”

The new policy could change in coming years. Title IX interpretations and department policies change with each administration, and even the department’s own statement said “agency guidance” should not be the final word on federal statutes.

“College sports may change, but schools’ legal obligations under Title IX doesn’t,” Rep. Lori Trahan (D., Mass.) said in a statement Wednesday. “If Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress won’t defend women’s sports, the courts will have to.” 

There’s at least one pending case that could set a new precedent. In December, 32 varsity and club women’s sports athletes sued the University of Oregon for Title IX violations. The original complaint alleged Oregon was violating Title IX by not providing equitable access to NIL resources and NIL collective dollars.

Longtime Title IX attorney Arthur Bryant, who filed the Title IX objection in the House case, believes the Oregon suit will bring the legal standard in line with the Biden guidance.

“The law is clear that colleges can’t discriminate against women to make money or avoid losing money,” Bryant told FOS recently. “If sports leagues want to operate in paying men more money than women, they need to do so as pro or semi-pro sports leagues. Not as college athletics.”

Trump has made several other major changes to Title IX interpretation. Last week, Trump signed an executive order—citing Title IX—banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports in schools. His Education Department has since launched investigations into schools it believes violates Title IX by letting transgender women compete, and it has asked the NCAA to change its record books to wipe championships and titles from transgender athletes in women’s sports categories.

Trump has also said he plans to dissolve the entire agency. It’s unclear which agency would enforce Title IX if this happens. Project 2025, which telegraphed several second-term priorities, suggested Title IX enforcement powers be given to the Department of Justice.