Donald Trump to host star-studded roundtable with Tiger Woods and Nick Saban in a bid to ‘save’ college sports
Commissioners from the top four college sports conferences will reportedly join athletes and other dignitaries at the White House on March 6 for a roundtable discussion on the future of college athletics.
Trump will chair the roundtable, which won’t be lacking star power, as reported by ESPN and Yahoo! Sports on Thursday.
In addition to vice chairs Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and New York Yankees president Randy Levine, the invitees reportedly include legendary college football coaches Nick Saban and Urban Meyer, former secretary of state and College Football Playoff selection committee member Condoleezza Rice, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and even Stanford golfing great, Tiger Woods.
Other former college athletes such as Heisman winners Tim Tebow and Charlie Ward may also be on hand. Cody Campbell, the billionaire chairman of Texas Tech’s board of regents and a former college football player, is another expected attendee after launching his ‘Saving College Sports’ campaign.
Conspicuously absent from the discussion are any active head coaches.
Sources have expressed doubts about the panel to ESPN, which will take place on a single Friday afternoon and has yet to formalize an agenda.
Donald Trump will devote a Friday afternoon in March to fixing the problems of college sports
In addition to vice chairs Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and New York Yankees president Randy Levine, the invitees include Nick Saban (right) and Urban Meyer (left)
Stanford golfing great TIger Woods has been invited to attend next weeks’ panel discussion
‘It’s people who could be involved in helping shape the future of college athletics and some of the solutions and strategies to structuring the athletic world going forward,’ one unidentified attendee told ESPN. ‘It’s so preliminary, it’s hard to say anything with any sort of specificity because there hasn’t been anything provided to us in writing of that sort yet.’
Both Saban and his former SEC rival, ex-Auburn coach and current Alabama senator Tommy Tuberville, have lobbied Trump on issues facing college sports, such as the rules governing player compensation as well as name, image and likeness (NIL) deals.
In July, Trump signed an executive order mandating a ruling on whether college athletes can be considered employees of the schools they play for.
The President directed the secretary of labor and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to clarify the status of collegiate athletes through guidance or rules ‘that will maximize the educational benefits and opportunities provided by higher education institutions through athletics.’
The NLRB has yet to issue a definitive ruling on the employee statuses of student-athletes.
