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President Donald Trump will host a roundtable discussion at the White House on college sports reform this week.
The panel is expected to include prominent coaches, commissioners from college and professional sports leagues, as well as other professional athletes, according to OutKick.
The group will meet March 6 to consider solutions to key challenges, including NCAA authority; name, image and likeness (NIL) issues; collective bargaining; and governance concerns.
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President Donald Trump holds a football presented to him during a ceremony presenting the Commander in Chief Trophy to the U.S. Naval Academy football team, the Midshipmen, in the East Room of the White House April 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Friday’s meeting will feature big names like Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Adam Silver and Tiger Woods. Trump stressed the need to “save college sports,” even signing an executive order setting new restrictions on payments to college athletes in July.
However, ESPN University analyst Paul Finebaum, who has previously hinted at a run for Congress as a Republican, remains a bit skeptical.
“The easiest thing, guys, is to say this is ridiculous,” Finebaum told Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic on WJOX. “And I read the other day, ‘Why is Nick Saban going?’ Why does anyone go there? The bottom line is this. If something doesn’t happen very quickly, and I mean in a short period of time, we’re talking weeks not years, then this thing could blow up.
“However this happened, I’m in favor of it. The question now is: With some of the most powerful people in Washington in the same room, including the most powerful person in the country, can anything be done, or will it be a circus? Will it be just another spectacle?”
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with former Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban as Trump takes the stage to address graduating students at the University of Alabama’s Coleman Coliseum May 1, 2025 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Trump’s order prohibits athletes from receiving paid payments from third-party sources. However, the order placed no restrictions on zero payments to college athletes from third-party sources.
A House vote on the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act, which would regulate name, image and likeness agreements, was canceled shortly before it was introduced in December.
The White House approved the legislation, but three Republicans, Byron Donalds of Florida, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, and Chip Roy of Texas, voted with Democrats not to introduce the legislation. Democrats largely opposed the bill, urging House members to vote “no.”
President Donald Trump looks on before the U.S. Army-Navy college football game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, December 13, 2025. (Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)
The SCORE Act would give the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption in hopes of protecting the NCAA from potential lawsuits over eligibility rules and would prohibit athletes from becoming employees of their schools. It prohibits schools from using tuition fees to fund zero payments.
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