WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that soaring college football costs are hurting school sports and that the issue needs to be addressed through legislation, adding that he may sign an executive order on the matter.
Trump said football players’ name, image and likeness contracts are an expensive burden on colleges, forcing some of them to give up sports like fencing.
advertise
“We have to save college sports,” Trump told a gathering of sports leaders in the East Room of the White House.
Until five years ago, the NCAA prohibited college athletes from accepting compensation for the use of NIL. The Supreme Court allowed college athletes to be paid in a 2021 ruling.
Trump said Congress needs to approve legislation to modify the use of NIL contracts.
“The amount of money spent and lost on otherwise very successful schools is staggering,” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said at the event that legislation is being developed to address the issue and he believes the bill has bipartisan support.
advertise
“We want to achieve what’s necessary, and we think we’re very close,” Johnson said.
Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban called for an effective revenue-sharing requirement system and a way to address the six or seven years that some football players are eligible to play in their 20s.
(Reporting by Humela Pamuk and Steve Holland; Editing by David Ljungren)
