Forget global conflicts or White House shake-ups – former President Trump recently gathered a high-profile roundtable, and the urgent topic was the future of college sports. Joining him were legends like former Alabama coach Nick Saban, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, and Notre Dame’s athletic director Pete Bevacqua. Their mission? To discuss how recent changes, particularly big paydays from Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals and the transfer portal, are “wrecking” college athletics.
The timing certainly raised eyebrows. With the U.S. and Israel launching strikes on Iran just a week prior, and a Homeland Security Secretary recently fired, Trump dedicated over an hour to this discussion. When a reporter tried to pivot to Iran, he famously cut in, “That’s an easy problem compared to what we’re doing here.” He later conceded it might not sound as critical as global events, but emphasized, “it is very important to me. And if I can get it done, I’ll get it done.”
Trump passionately argued that lavish athlete salaries aren’t just pushing universities toward financial trouble, but also unfairly squeezing out smaller sports and women’s athletics. He expressed a strong desire to “go back to the old system,” advocating for a return to a scholarship-based model with perhaps “more minimal” additional compensation for athletes.
With House Speaker Mike Johnson and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also in attendance, Trump urged Congress to pass the SCORE Act or similar legislation to impose new rules. If legislative action isn’t taken, he vowed to draft an executive order himself, issuing a stark warning: “If this doesn’t work, colleges are going to be destroyed.” For Trump, securing the future of college sports is clearly a deeply personal and urgent mission.
