President Donald Trump‘s reported efforts to reestablish the ground rules of college athletics reflect his long interest in sports and the concern among fans that the NIL changes have gone too far.
While nothing is official, Trump appears to be forming a presidential commission on college sports to establish a new set of guidelines to stabilize what has become a free-for-all model of unlimited player compensation and high roster turnover.
Arguably the most successful coach in college football history, along with a former player involved in a pro-Trump think tank, will lead the commission.
“Alabama has changed college football forever, and inscribed into the history books the names of Bear Bryant, Joe Namath, four Heisman Trophy winners, and, of course, the great Nick Saban,” Trump said in a May 1 commencement speech at the University of Alabama. “This place is truly where legends are made. It really is. It’s a special place.”
Saban, who introduced Trump before the speech and met with him during the visit, won six national championships coaching the Alabama Crimson Tide. Now retired, he wants to add to his legacy by helping reform college athletics.
According to Yahoo.com, Saban will co-chair the commission along with Cody Campbell, who played football at Texas Tech and is now a member of the school’s board of regents and a distinguished fellow at the pro-Trump America First Policy Institute.
Saban and Campbell each played college football in the era before players got paid. Alabama renamed its home field in Saban’s honor after paying him tens of millions of dollars to coach, and the Texas Tech Red Raiders now play on Cody Campbell Field after Campbell made a $25 million donation to the school.
However, for those who have cheered recent changes in the college sports landscape, what these two men have proposed could represent a regression rather than reform.
“There isn’t a crisis in college sports regarding NIL that needs fixing,” said Andy Schwarz, an economist specializing in antitrust, class actions, and damages analysis. “Schools paying more money for athletes is a sign the market is functioning more accurately than it used to.”
What’s at stake?
Historically, the National Collegiate Athletic Association barred college athletes from being paid beyond the value of a full-ride scholarship, even while their efforts generated billions of dollars in revenue for their schools.
That state of affairs changed in 2021 following the Supreme Court’s NCAA vs. Alston decision. Student-athletes are now allowed to profit from their name, image, and likeness, or NIL, and many college football and men’s basketball players are now paid millions of dollars a year.
Several other factors have also changed over the last few years.
The NCAA relaxed its transfer rules simultaneously, allowing players to switch schools between and sometimes during the athletic season. Some players now spend time at three or even four different schools across their career, and entire rosters can turn over in a single offseason.
Lawsuits have challenged yet another NCAA rule that allowed players five years of eligibility to play four seasons in a given sport, and efforts have emerged arguing that players should be designated as employees who can form labor unions, challenging the NCAA’s amateur model and very idea that players are “student-athletes” seeking a degree from the school they represent.
The NCAA did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Saban, who retired following the 2023 season, argued that paying players would widen the gap between name-brand schools that can afford top salaries and those that cannot, hurting competition. Concerns have also been raised that schools will have to cut nonrevenue and Olympic sports, including female sports, leaving those athletes out in the cold.
Trump’s commission could not change any rules on its own, and Trump would be limited in what he could do via executive order, but the effort could prove impactful if Congress ratifies its recommendations.
“President Trump obviously has a lot of love and interest in sports in general, and has been involved with sports for many decades,” said John Shu, a constitutional law expert who worked for former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. “These issues are of national importance, and it’s appropriate for President Trump to create a commission to look into it and make suggestions and recommendations.”
Along with Saban, another Alabama-based former football coach, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), has his sights set on reforming college sports. Tuberville has tried to get NIL legislation passed before, and flew with Trump on Air Force One to his commencement address in Tuscaloosa.
“College football is the heart and soul of America — but it’s in danger if we don’t level the playing field,” Tuberville, who spent a decade coaching the Auburn Tigers, posted on X.
A Tuberville spokesperson acknowledged his involvement but provided few details.
“In the ever-changing landscape of college athletics, both President Trump and Sen. Tuberville want to make sure that college athletes continue to get a quality education, women’s sports are protected, and the integrity of college sports remains intact,” the spokesperson said.
A White House spokesperson did not comment on the record when contacted, but according to the Yahoo report, the commission’s framework could include three main components. The first would be a limited antitrust protection for the NCAA to enforce transfer and eligibility rules, the second would be a clause clarifying that players are students and not employees, and the third would be an override of existing state-level NIL laws.
Even with Republican majorities in both chambers, getting a bill through Congress could be difficult. Previous efforts have not been fruitful, and backers of the recent changes have said that athletes are now rightfully empowered to profit off their labor and to leave when they find themselves in a bad situation.
“In the NIL era, the coaches now have to treat their athletes with respect, or they can transfer out to a better offer,” Schwarz said.
Hagens Berman, an attorney leading an NIL-related lawsuit against the NCAA, released a statement criticizing Saban’s reported involvement in the commission.
“Coach Saban and Trump’s eleventh-hour talks of executive orders and other meddling are just more unneeded self-involvement,” Berman said. “College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals. They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”
Trump the sports fan
This isn’t Trump’s first time trying to shake up the sports world. In the 1980s, he attempted to buy the NFL’s Baltimore Colts. When that failed, Trump bought the USFL’s New Jersey Generals, which featured high-profile players including Heisman Trophy winners Herschel Walker and Doug Flutie.
At Trump’s urging, the USFL filed and won an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL in 1986, but it was famously awarded only $3 in damages, spelling the league’s demise.
Trump is also a fan of boxing and mixed martial arts. He has attended several UFC events since last November’s election.
However, college football tends to be popular in red states, and Trump has made a habit of attending games during his political career. He attended the 2018 College Football Playoff Championship in Atlanta, attended Alabama games in Tuscaloosa in 2019 and 2024, and attended the Army-Navy game, the Iowa-Iowa State game, and the South Carolina-Clemson game, among other events.
Whether the reported commission succeeds in reforming college sports, Trump is once again throwing his weight around in matters that stray far from Washington, D.C., politics.
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Tom McMillen, a former Democratic congressman and Maryland Terrapins basketball star, said the commission should have been created long ago.
“Applauding [President] Trump for considering a presidential commission on college sports—something I first called for 11 years ago,” he posted on X. “The conversation is long overdue.”
