President Trump is making a big-time decision on college sports.
The world of college sports has changed a lot in recent years, thanks mostly to Name, Image and Likeness. College athletes are now rightfully able to profit off of their own name, image and likeness. College football and college basketball programs across the country are spending $10 million or more on their rosters. Some college athletes, like Miami quarterback Carson Beck, for example, are making $4 million-plus in a year.
But some have begun to argue that college sports is at risk of losing its essence. Players are transferring at an alarming rate. Rosters are getting turned over basically every year. If college sports is just a worse version of professional sports – with even less regulation – what’s the point?
President Trump is apparently going to find out.
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President Trump is announcing that he is creating a Presidential Commission to study college sports.
The commission is charged with figuring out where the biggest issues lie in college sports.
Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports first reported the news:
President Donald Trump is making plans to create a presidential commission on college athletics, the first step in what could be a months-long endeavor for solutions to the issues ailing the ecosystem.
Multiple sources, both in Congress and within college sports, spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak about Trump’s plan. Many college sports stakeholders have been briefed on the matter. It is unclear when an announcement could come.
Trump’s involvement, though not surprising, is a landmark moment in college athletics history — the country’s most powerful elected leader potentially shaping the future of the industry. Details of the commission are for now being kept private, but the group is expected to feature college sports stakeholders, prominent businesspeople with deep connections to college football and, perhaps, even a former coach and administrator.
President Trump reportedly spoke with former Alabama coach Nick Saban last week, the latter of which expressed his concerns about college sports.
Now, it sounds like President Trump will be stepping in.
