The White House is considering forming a presidential committee that can set new rules on how to compensate university athletes.
Yahoo.com reports that former Alabama football coach Nick Savan and former Texas Tech football player Cody Campbell will lead the committee.
Several areas that the committee may focus on.
The first one deals with athlete compensation. Since the 2021 Supreme Court decision on the NCAA, university athletes have been able to pay from what they call NIL, name, image, and portraits, and many university football and basketball players are currently earning six colleges and seven figures a year.
Saban has expressed his concern about the players being compensated. Last year, he told Fox News that school competition would be hampered by the ability to afford athletes the best dollars compared to smaller universities that popular schools couldn’t. This can also create problems with reducing school non-collection and Olympic sports that can hurt school athletes.
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Another area the committee examines is school relocation rules. These rules allow student-athletes to switch schools in the middle of the season.
“Yeah, this is a big issue that needs to be addressed. Some players have used it and have caused problems with school sales,” said Florida sports podcaster Jason Redmon. Redmon says there is a lawsuit against the NCAA on the topic.
Another problematic area is whether student-athletes can form labor unions.
If the committee is formed, the Trump administration says their main issue they consider is the restrictive antitrust protections for the NCAA to enforce transfer and eligibility rules, which explain that the rules are federal laws in which university athletes are students and not employees, but perhaps take over existing state laws.
“In the ever-changing landscape of university athletics, President Trump said the White House was telling us to ensure that university athletes continue to receive quality education, women’s sports are protected and the integrity of university sports remains intact,” the White House said.
