Donald Trump launches assault on NIL offers in school sports activities as he warns it’s threatening the Olympics
The era of name, image and likeness (NIL) deals has been changing the face of college sports. President Donald Trump has expressed his desire to change that.
As legislation stalls in Congress to codify laws about paying college athletes, Trump has recently branded the system as a ‘disaster’ and wants to make a change.
‘I think that it’s a disaster for college sports,’ Trump said during the signing of the Congressional Gold Medal bill as he was joined by athletes in the Oval Office.
‘I think it’s a disaster for the Olympics because we’re losing a lot of teams. The colleges are cutting a lot of their, they would call them the lesser sports, and they’re losing them at numbers nobody can believe.
‘Those sports don’t exist because they’re putting all their money into football. And by the way, they’re putting too much money into football because colleges don’t make, even the most successful universities, don’t make that much money.’
Trump continued: ‘I think the NIL is a disaster for sports. It’s horrible for the Olympics, and I think it’s actually horrible for the players. And you’re losing all of these great sports. They’re not college football.
President Trump believes that there should be a way to stop NIL payments in college athletics
He believes that schools will bankrupt themselves trying to get top players, like Arch Manning
‘Even basketball is being affected. Basketball is second, but even basketball is being affected… You’re going to have these colleges wipe themselves out, and something ought to be done, and I’m willing to put the federal government behind it.
‘But if it’s not done fast, you’re going to wipe out colleges. They’re going to get wiped out, including ones that do well in football… They won’t be able to stop… Colleges cannot afford to play this game, and it’s a very bad thing that’s happening.’
Earlier this year, a judge in California agreed to the so-called House Settlement – which allowed colleges and universities to pay athletes directly out of their revenue share from money received through athletics.
Since then, athletic departments have been exhausting their ideas and capabilities for fundraising to offset the expenses.
As for the so-called ‘Olympic Sports’, programs have been cut for cost saving measures by a number of institutions.
Many athletes who compete at the Olympics from many nations have used competition at American colleges and universities as ways to train and prepare for the games once every four years.
But now, Trump believes that college athletics has been too money-focused.
There is congressional legislation proposed to regulate this in the form of the SCORE Act. However, votes on the bill have been repeatedly delayed all year long.
