Heather DinichMar 6, 2026, 08:20 PM ETMultiple Authors
The group included other politicians, sports celebrities, media executives, conference commissioners, and university presidents, chancellors and athletic directors. Those who spoke delivered a similar message: College sports needs federal legislation to restore order in the NIL space and its overall economics.
“I will have an executive order within one week, and it will be very all-encompassing,” Trump said. “And we’re going to put it forward, and we’re going to get sued, and we’re going to see how it plays, OK, but I’ll have an executive order, which will solve every problem in this room, every conceivable problem, within one week, and we’ll put it forward. We will get sued. That’s the only thing I know for sure.”
NCAA president Charlie Baker was in attendance, along with ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, American Conference commissioner Tim Pernetti and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua.
The meeting was scheduled for an hour but lasted almost two, and reporters in attendance were allowed to stand in the back of the room for the duration. Former Alabama coach Nick Saban, sitting two seats to the left of the president, was the first to speak for the college space.
Saban said his goal was to help prepare players for success in life and create an environment that would help them through personal development and academic support — and that became “impossible to do in this system.”
“That’s cheating,” he said. “Donors put money in a pot. It’s distributed to the players through coaches and managers. That’s not allowed. Not supposed to do that. That’s pay-for-play.”
Lawmakers and others in the room rallied around hope that the SCORE Act, Congress’ leading Republican-backed effort to create a national NIL and college athletics regulatory structure, will pass. Sen. Ted Cruz said 60 Senate votes are needed, including seven Democrats, but he added that zero Democrats are ready to vote for it.
Texas Tech billionaire booster Cody Campbell, who has been working on the issue for months, cautioned that as it moves into the Senate, “certain dynamics are going to change.”
“Many of the agendas in this room and outside this room are going to become impossible,” he said. “The reality is nobody’s going to get everything. If we’re going to come to a solution on this, we have to find a place where we’re all equally unhappy, just like any other business deal.”
Phillips told the president, “We need your help,” and said none of the commissioners in the room has been told by any players that they want to be considered employees.
In the Paris Games, she said, athletes represented 231 different colleges and 71 conferences, and 90 different schools were represented by medalists. She cautioned not to take those sports at the collegiate level for granted.
“We know what happens when those investments are reduced or disappear,” she said. “It hinders the future pipeline of Team USA, but frankly, it threatens the future health of sport in our country. We cannot wait for the economic pressure to create this crisis.”
“And while the United States has topped the gold medal table in eight of the last 10 Summer Games, I am here to tell you the margin is narrowing,” she said. “Around the world, nations are investing aggressively in sports, building centralized training systems, expanding funding and prioritizing athlete development in new ways. That growing global competition comes at a moment when U.S. colleges must increase their investments in football to stay competitive. The economic pressures are unsustainable. …
WASHINGTON — After a plea for help from the highest levels of college athletics, President Donald Trump on Friday said he will write an executive order within a week that will “solve all of the problems” brought forth in an unprecedented meeting at the White House to address the future of college sports.
Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said part of the solution is to “get rid of the collectives.”
“They’re smart enough to understand what that means,” Phillips said.
Heather DinichMar 6, 2026, 08:20 PM ETMultiple Authors