WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says he is looking into offering a waiver that would allow service academy athletes to play professional sports immediately upon graduation.
Trump made the announcement Monday while presenting the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy to the U.S. Military Academy football team during a Rose Garden ceremony.
He says that, under the plan he envisions, athletes would “serve their time after they’re finished with professional sports.”
But Trump’s own Defense Department rescinded a policy in 2017 that allowed the best athletes from the military’s service academies to go straight to the pros upon graduation instead of having to first serve in active duty.
Under the current framework, athletes have to serve two years of active duty before applying for reserve status to pursue a career in professional sports.
