Trump reportedly considering executive order limiting NIL after meeting with Nick Saban

Dannymacfan · May 3

The latest complication in the ongoing fight over how college athletes should be paid could come straight from the pen of President Donald Trump.

The president is considering an executive order regarding NIL payments after a meeting with former Alabama head football coach Nick Saban on Thursday night, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Saban reportedly complained about NIL to Trump, who was in Tuscaloosa to deliver the University of Alabama's commencement address, and said he believed the system has damaged college sports. However, the coach didn't propose eliminating NIL but instead "reforming" it to address an allegedly uneven playing field.

Trump reportedly said he agreed with Saban and would look at drafting an executive order, directing aides to begin studying what such an order would say.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., helped set up the meeting with the hope it could be a first step in changing NIL, as he said Wednesday:

"Hopefully we'll get to sit down with Coach Saban. President Trump wants to help on this NIL. I don't know how he can do it through an executive order. But possibly we can sit down and talk some insight of what Coach Saban thinks about it, what I think about it and we can come up with some sort of agreement because right now it's in a tailspin."

read more: https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/breaking-news/article/president-trump-reportedly-considering-executive-order-limiting-nil-after-meeting-with-nick-saban-012129625.html

Wag Tag · May 3

Self serving. Alabama can’t keep up. Texas, A&M, SMU are going to crush Bama with the NiL and talent.

NT93 · May 3

1 hour ago, Wag Tag said:

Self serving. Alabama can’t keep up. Texas, A&M, SMU are going to crush Bama with the NiL and talent.

Probably, but if the system is such that Alabama can’t keep up, it’s a broken system.

GreenEggs&Ham™ · May 3

Isn't NIL also a symptom of the US economy as a whole. Wealth has collected at the top 1% for decades and now these folks are so wealthy that funding the Texas-One program or Oregon FB or Ohio State is just "unicorn" money at this point.

NorthTexasWeLove · May 3

Donald Glover Reaction GIF

Mean Green 93-98 · May 3

3 hours ago, Wag Tag said:

Self serving. Alabama can’t keep up. Texas, A&M, SMU are going to crush Bama with the NiL and talent.

SMU?!? They have a ton of money compared to schools like UNT, but they are not remotely in Alabama's class. At least not yet.

NT80 · May 3

1 hour ago, GreenEggs&Ham™ said:

Isn't NIL also a symptom of the US economy as a whole. Wealth has collected at the top 1% for decades and now these folks are so wealthy that funding the Texas-One program or Oregon FB or Ohio State is just "unicorn" money at this point.

People with wealth want influence and control. Now, these mega-donors see they can have a more direct immediate impact on their College's sports than by just getting a building named after them. They can influence who their school recruits and signs and plays based on their giving $$.

GBarksdale · May 3

I know his hobby is signing executive orders but not sure how this would hold up in court. Not that that matters…

Tom McKrackin · May 3

5 hours ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

SMU?!? They have a ton of money compared to schools like UNT, but they are not remotely in Alabama's class. At least not yet.

Bama does not have more money than SMUt

Mean Green 93-98 · May 3

15 minutes ago, Tom McKrackin said:

Bama does not have more money than SMUt

Source? According to On3, Bama has the #12 NIL collective in college sports: https://www.on3.com/nil/news/on3s-top-15-nil-collectives-in-college-sports/

Not to mention, the Crimson Tide is an extremely profitable brand, generating a ton more revenue than SMU via attendance and media dollars. Yes, SMU has a nice handful of very wealthy donors, but they only have a fraction of the number of supporters and means of bringing in dollars that Bama has.

GrandGreen · May 3

35 minutes ago, Tom McKrackin said:

Bama does not have more money than SMUt

I don't know which team has the most, but SMU has demonstrated that they have all it takes to buy their way in or out of anything.

GMG_Dallas · May 3

5 hours ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

SMU?!? They have a ton of money compared to schools like UNT, but they are not remotely in Alabama's class. At least not yet.

Take away the SEC media deal and I'd imagine SMU has more pure wealth. Same goes for most SEC/BIG10 schools.

MeanGreenZen · May 3

I would never underestimate how much money the daddy’s of SMU alumni have.

GMG_Dallas · May 3

7 minutes ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

Source? According to On3, Bama has the #12 NIL collective in college sports: https://www.on3.com/nil/news/on3s-top-15-nil-collectives-in-college-sports/

Not to mention, the Crimson Tide is an extremely profitable brand, generating a ton more revenue than SMU via attendance and media dollars. Yes, SMU has a nice handful of very wealthy donors, but they only have a fraction of the number of supporters and means of bringing in dollars that Bama has.

Source for SMU: https://www.sportico.com/leagues/college-sports/2024/smu-football-college-playoff-history-donations-1234819662/

Find me the article that puts Alabama boosters in the $15+ billion range and has them raising $100 million in 5 days.

Mean Green 93-98 · May 4

2 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

Source for SMU: https://www.sportico.com/leagues/college-sports/2024/smu-football-college-playoff-history-donations-1234819662/

Find me the article that puts Alabama boosters in the $15+ billion range and has them raising $100 million in 5 days.

We're talking about NIL and total budget. You're talking about a single event. A single event that Alabama had no need for, because they are on another level than SMU. That's impressive that SMU raised $100 million dollars in 5 days. But that was largely to cover their absence of media rights distributions. Lack of media rights distributions is not an issue at Alabama.

greenminer · May 4

Bama's numbers and brand, vs the seemingly unlimited wealth of a select few(er) at SMU.

Actually, I love this conversation.

Greenrex · May 4

Interesting. We can fill up a page of posts regarding the most consequential college athletics issue of our time with hardly a whispering mention of UNT.

NorthTexasWeLove · May 4

23 minutes ago, Greenrex said:

Interesting. We can fill up a page of posts regarding the most consequential college athletics issue of our time with hardly a whispering mention of UNT.

Well, this conversation for UNT ends with, "we are poor." Then, we point fingers at the one's taking absolute advantage of the no rule model.

MCMLXXX · May 4

5 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

I don't know which team has the most, but SMU has demonstrated that they have all it takes to buy their way in or out of anything.

100 SMU donors vs. Pittsburg State, who wins?

Rudy · May 4

So is everyone cool with this? We've been wanting someone to step in. Or are we not cool with it now?

GMG_Dallas · May 4

12 hours ago, Mean Green 93-98 said:

We're talking about NIL and total budget. You're talking about a single event. A single event that Alabama had no need for, because they are on another level than SMU. That's impressive that SMU raised $100 million dollars in 5 days. But that was largely to cover their absence of media rights distributions. Lack of media rights distributions is not an issue at Alabama.

If Bama had more money than SMU, they wouldn't be freaking out about NIL and money.

Regarding the $100 million, Alabama could not get that amount of money from its boosters and fans in 5 days. Their money is 100% tied to their TV deal.

GMG_Dallas · May 4

8 hours ago, Rudy said:

So is everyone cool with this? We've been wanting someone to step in. Or are we not cool with it now?

I don't care how change happens, just that it happened.

I view Saban crying to the president like I view the Iamaleava brothers ditching Tennessee and Arkansas after taking their money, glad they got taken advantage of and are seeing their wealth and power isn't enough in this system. That's what we need for eventual change that can even out the playing field (contracts, buyouts that can fund our NIL, etc...).

NT93 · May 4

15 hours ago, GBarksdale said:

I know his hobby is signing executive orders but not sure how this would hold up in court. Not that that matters…

I would think that it might hold up in court. Many, maybe most leagues have a salary cap. This would be the same difference wouldn’t it?

Tom McKrackin · May 4

11 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Well, this conversation for UNT ends with, "we are poor." Then, we point fingers at the one's taking absolute advantage of the no rule model.

No sir we are not poor. Our admin has tons of money they could allocate towards athletics. They love to point the finger at our donors and fans. But our donors and fans see no significant support from the University itself. Look at schools like Memphis, USF, Tulane who are all far ahead of us. Their universities care and that reflects on the donors and their willingness to commit.

DeepGreen · May 4

16 hours ago, MeanGreenZen said:

I would never underestimate how much money the daddy’s of SMU alumni have.

I personally know a former SMU Alum who played football for SMU many moons ago. The guy was a "big cheese" with Exxon. An extremely wealthy gentleman.