The White House is considering forming a presidential commission that could set new rules on how colleges and universities compensate school athletes.
Yahoo.com reports that former Alabama football coach Nick Saban and former Texas Tech football player Cody Campbell will lead the commission.
Some areas the commission may focus on.
The first one deals with athlete compensation. Since the 2021 Supreme Court ruling on the NCAA, college athletes can now be paid from what is known as NIL, name, image, and likeness, and many college football and basketball players are now making six—and seven-figure salaries a year.
Saban has expressed his concerns about players being compensated. Last year, he told Fox News that school competition would be hurt because popular schools could afford to pay top dollar for athletes compared to smaller universities that couldn’t. This may also cause a problem with schools cutting non-revenue and Olympic sports, which could hurt female athletes.
Another area the commission may examine is school transfer rules. Under these rules, student athletes can switch schools right in the middle of the season.
“Yep, this is a big issue that will have to be addressed. Some players are taking advantage of this, and it’s caused problems with school turnover,” said Florida Sports Podcaster Jason Redmon. Redmon says there are lawsuits against the NCAA on this topic.
Another problem area, Redmon says, is whether student athletes should be able to form labor unions.
If the commission is formed, the Trump administration says their main issues they will look at are a limited antitrust protection for the NCAA to enforce transfer and eligibility rules, rules explaining that college athletes are students and not employees, and possibly the third would be federal law taking over existing state NIL laws.
“In the ever-changing landscape of college athletics, President Trump wants,” said the White House 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,” said the White House.
