An attorney representing current and former college athletes in the proposed $2.8. billion House vs. NCAA settlement said a potential executive order from President Donald Trump on the issue of NIL in college sports would be “unmerited and unhelpful” and criticized former Alabama coach Nick Saban’s “eleventh-hour self importance,” due to his reported involvement in the discussions.
The Wall Street Journal reported late last week that Trump met with Saban while the president was in Tuscaloosa, Ala., to give the commencement speech at Alabama’s graduation ceremonies. The seven-time national championship coach warned that the compensation of athletes was creating an uneven playing field. The paper said that afterward, Trump instructed aides to begin studying what could be included in an executive order.
“While he was a coach, Saban initially opposed NIL payments to athletes, pushing to add restrictions and red tape through national legislation to add ‘some sort of control,’” attorney Steve Berman said. “During his time scrutinizing the athlete pay structure, he made tens of millions of dollars and was previously the highest-paid coach in college football.”
A federal judge in California is currently in the final stages of deciding whether to approve an expansive settlement in the House case that would establish a new system by which schools could directly pay up to $20.5 million a year for athletes’ NIL rights. Currently, all such deals must come from outside entities like collectives.
Judge Claudia Wilken told the parties on April 24 that she would not approve the settlement unless modifications were made to ensure current athletes do not lose spots on their teams due to the implementation of roster limits for each sport contained in the settlement.
The parties have until Thursday to respond.
No details have emerged about a potential executive order regarding NIL, which has become a catch-all abbreviation for a number of related issues in college sports, most notably the transfer portal.
“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.”
(Photo of President Trump and Nick Saban at the University of Alabama on Thursday: Moneymaker / Getty Images)
