Trump University sports roundtable turns into dog and pony show
Watch President Trump spark Pele or Messi controversy
President Donald Trump jokingly asked Inter Miami if Lionel Messi is better than legendary Brazilian forward Pele.
While the fate of college sports was being debated in the White House with some of the biggest and best sports and political figures, the silent partners in the free-spending, free-fall framework were largely ignoring it.
ESPN, Fox, NBC, and CBS, which together spent more than $2 billion a year on college sports, were more interested in televising the NFL, college basketball, and talk and reality shows.
Guys, please don’t mess with Judge Judy.
Once again, what happened in Washington DC wasn’t too different from Judy’s reality show.
In between ideas from various participants (some good ones), President Donald Trump (who, to his credit, somehow brought together all of these iconic figures) rambled about “going back to the old ways.”
President Trump said, “I would like to return to the exact situation we had and thoroughly refute it in court.”
Excuse me, Mr. President? That’s what got us here in the first place.
It wasn’t long before the two-hour event devolved into a voice of dissatisfaction and an opportunity for the over-50s at the table to voice their opinions. That is, until Trump has heard enough.
Soon, it was his show again.
He is issuing a second executive order (the first one accomplished nothing) that calls for college sports to be “restored to normalcy, the universities and the players alive, and everyone happy.”
He said the order is expected to be completed within a week and while it may not pass in court, “we won’t get anything (in Congress).”
And then the most powerful man in the free world decided to punt.
Look, I don’t blame him. This is an out-of-control mess, and there will be no help from Congress, the only institution on earth that is more tribally dysfunctional than the NCAA.
So let’s start with the non-negotiable part of the process. Change in college sports cannot begin without some kind of antitrust protection for universities.
Of course, this is like saying you want to protect the fox while the fox is guarding the chicken coop.
For the past five years, these universities have been complaining about the system they have built, and have repeatedly argued that it is unsustainable. And yet this damn thing keeps printing money. There are many.
But you need a starting point, so perhaps this is it. Perhaps, as Yankees president Randy Levine has said, it might start with a two-year antitrust waiver to see if the university can honor the agreement. Or if they mess it up.
In the latter case, the entire process starts again from step 1.
Antitrust immunity is a huge advantage for universities, allowing those with money to set the rules for those without. Or in this case, for players, it’s about 20%.
If universities receive antitrust exemptions, the first thing that will be implemented is a return to restrictions on player travel. (That voice you just heard was President Trump declaring, “Go back to the great system.”)
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has said his conference is asking for one free transfer and that’s it. You know, it was a long time ago.
They argue that free movement of players leads to structural and financial instability. This will unlock important clues that make college sports unique and different from the NFL. Like that’s what’s important right now.
Forget that the “old days” were terrible for players and economically equivalent to traversing a long, lonely desert. Eventually someone just offers you a box of cotton balls to quench your thirst.
Which brings us back to former coach Urban Meyer. He had an impeccable reputation (he had a disastrous year in the NFL at both Florida State and Ohio State). Today’s gift from him: “Eliminate the group. That’s cheating!”
Cheating. Imagine that.
He then tried to explain that group conspiracies and their cash are President Trump’s biggest tenets. Insert joke here.
It’s all so rich.
And when it came to money, little was said about Cody Campbell’s idea to use the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 to allow conferences to pool media rights to make more money, allowing everyone to share in the wealth.
The SEC and Big Ten don’t want to pool their television media rights, and they don’t want a billionaire businessman — who also happens to be the chairman of the Texas Tech University Board of Trustees — to tell them how to financially structure their scams. I mean, it’s their system.
Early in the meeting, before all the men and women turned to themselves, the football coach said the most important thing. It’s no surprise that it was Alabama legend Nick Saban, who grew up in Mononga, West Virginia.
Saban’s father, Big Nick, once took Saban to a coal mine after Little Nick got lost one day when he was a teenager.
Get an education, Big Nick said in a threatening tone, or you’ll end up here.
Saban began his talk at Trump’s event by saying he was just a football coach and was honored to be in the room with you. You see, his big dilemma has always been finding answers beyond the third.
Then he said: Those were the sharpest words of the entire two-hour ordeal.
“What are the guiding principles for college athletics?” Saban said. “My goal as a coach was to help (athletes) create value for themselves in life and prepare them for a future beyond athletics.”
Oh wait, players. Yes, the people at the center of this quagmire were not invited to the event. Why do we do that?
They now have the law (and free movement of players) on their side, thanks to a federal judge in West Virginia.
No need to punt on third-and-long.
Matt Hayes is a senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X @MattHayesCFB.
