WASHINGTON, D.C. — At a White House presidential roundtable of business moguls and sports executives on Friday, Donald Trump made an announcement that surprised many attendees: He plans to issue another executive order to regulate college sports.
Trump made the announcement in the final 10 minutes of a 100-minute roundtable after several participants briefed the president on the difficulties of passing legislation through Congress.
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Apparently, that leaves him with a solution: Trump says he will write another executive order to fix the problem, while acknowledging that his own order will be subject to legal challenges because it includes reimposing policies deemed illegal by courts.
While his statements at the conference stole the headlines, the roundtable’s immediate and most lasting impact was in another place: Congress.
Many believe the main goal of the roundtable is to nudge lawmakers toward Congressional legislation by drawing attention to issues in college athletics. It’s not that far-fetched considering the list of invitees was star-studded and the entire roundtable was broadcast live on CSPAN, something many attendees didn’t expect.
But before we get into the behind-the-scenes drama of the Capitol incident, let’s answer a few questions first.
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Will Trump really write another executive order? Will it have a big impact?
White House
If Trump’s first executive order, issued in July, is any indication, the executive orders will have no impact on college sports.
“We are still waiting for the first measures to be implemented,” said a senior university leader.
Legal experts say there’s good reason for that: Congressional legislation and court rulings are the law of the country, not executive orders.
In fact, it was brought up during another roundtable on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
said roundtable moderator Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, who added that any solution for college sports must and should come from Congress.
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“The next president can overturn the executive order,” he warned at the roundtable.
If you recall, Trump’s first executive order directed members of his Cabinet and the Federal Trade Commission to develop and enforce policies around multiple aspects of college sports to protect the NCAA and conferences from enforcing the rules governing the industry. It also requires schools to maintain certain levels of scholarships, prohibit third-party “pay-to-play” and address athlete employment issues.
President Donald Trump (left) gestures as former head coach Nick Saban (right) speaks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Suzy Wells during a college sports roundtable discussion at the White House on March 6. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(Anna Chanmemaker via Getty Images)
The order gives the attorney general, labor secretary, education secretary and the Federal Trade Commission 30 to 60 days to develop the policy and begin enforcement, including withholding federal funds for violators and launching Title IX investigations.
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About 229 days passed and nothing happened.
But that’s not to say Trump has given up on the issue.
In the past few weeks, he has taken a more hands-on role on the topic, pushing aside White House staff and Cabinet members who had previously chaired the college sports reform agenda project. In an interview this week, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said the president’s interest does “make sense.”
But the bottom line is this: Even if Trump eventually issues another executive order — on which White House officials are already seeking advice — its real impact is likely to be minimal.
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More likely, smaller groups created in roundtables of more than 50 people will have a greater impact. The group is expected to work with lawmakers to advance legislation in Congress.
Speaking of which…
house
The SCORE Act, the college athletics bill introduced last summer, is back on the House agenda.
The SCORE Act is a largely Republican-backed college athletics bill that would provide antitrust protections to the NCAA and conferences to enforce rules (taking into account transfers, eligibility, revenue share caps/college athletic commissions, etc.), prevent athletes from being considered employees, and potentially create a new governance model in college athletics.
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Many believe the bill could be brought to a vote as soon as next week. However, there is a problem. In order for the bill to advance to consideration, lawmakers must first pass what’s known as a “rules vote,” a procedural step that leads to a Rules Committee resolution that determines how the bill will be debated and revised after it is filed.
Rule votes are known to be decided along party lines. Republicans hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives, including 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats, with three seats open. That slim margin means Republicans can only lose one vote on party-line legislation.
When House Republican leadership told dignitaries at a roundtable on Friday that they have the votes needed to pass SCORE, they were likely referring to actual bill votes, not rules votes. In fact, House Leader Steve Scalise said they believe SCORE would have double-digit Democratic support if it were to pass.
In September and December, House Republican leaders failed to get enough members of their own party to vote for rules votes.
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Why didn’t enough Republicans vote for a rules vote? There are a variety of problems, most notably the difficulty many lawmakers have in granting the NCAA any significant powers and legal protections in a future governance model. In fact, one House staffer recently quipped, “We really underestimated how much people hate the NCAA.” That has less to do with the current NCAA leadership and probably more to do with the previous leadership.
The recent changes to SCORE are a sign of NCAA reform. The amendments establish a committee to study the future of the NCAA, a first step in informing governance changes that could potentially move away from the NCAA to a new model.
Senate
The threshold for legislation in the Senate is higher than in the House. Passage with 60 votes means seven Democratic votes.
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During a roundtable on Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) made clear that Senate Democratic leadership is blocking other Democratic lawmakers from agreeing to his long-discussed draft of a college sports bill.
He did not name names, but he was likely referring to Maria Cantwell, the Democratic leader of the Senate Commerce Committee, which Cruz chairs and which has primary jurisdiction over college sports legislation, and Chuck Schumer, the longtime leader of the Senate Democratic caucus. Cruz spent much of last year negotiating with Chris Coons (D-N.Y.).
Cruz blamed Democrats’ ties to unions for preventing leadership from agreeing to any legislation that would ban athletes from being employees. Lawmakers are divided on a number of other issues, including the breadth of the NCAA’s antitrust exemptions and revisions to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, a concept that is gaining traction that would allow conferences to consolidate their media rights and theoretically increase revenue to address current financial issues.
In fact, Cantwell and Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) jointly announced a narrow bill Friday that only amends the Small Business Administration — a major bipartisan move that cannot be ignored and puts more pressure on Cruz. It turns out Cruz and Schmidt each spoke virtually last week with a group of college presidents and board members who gathered in Dallas last week for a summit hosted by Smash Sports, a private equity-backed group whose officials are proposing a new model for college sports that would require revamping the SBA.
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A second committee is also involved in any college athletic legislation: the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, or HELP, which Cassidy chairs. The committee has jurisdiction over portions of any college athletic bill, including athlete employment, which was a divisive topic during Tuesday’s roundtable discussion.
Regardless, Cruz faces more pressure than ever — from the White House, fellow senators, college sports leaders (including his own state of Texas) and potentially House Republican leadership, especially if they manage to pass the Fraction Act in the chamber.
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Cruz’s draft isn’t that different from SCORE, but any Senate legislation would require more bipartisanship to get the necessary votes. Cantwell’s catch-all college athletics bill, the SECURE Act, amends the BEA but says nothing about employment issues. Cruz’s draft does not amend the SBA, at least for now, and contains anti-employment provisions.
Will he compromise on these issues? If Schmidt works with Cantwell, couldn’t Cruz?
Negotiations between Cruz and Cantwell – which have so far been virtually non-existent – are believed to be imminent.
