Trump, College Football and Money

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are just north of a month from the start
of the college football season, or, in the case of Nebraska,
the annual twelve week pilgrimage to our Mecca Memorial Stadium.
But thanks to the President, we're not talking about teams
and games and players coaches. We're talking about money. Late
Thursday night, he issued an executive order that is pure

(00:20):
Trumpian invective. Quote saves college sports unquote doesn't really do that,
just resets the argument. Nick Saban is a friend of his,
and Saban, the greatest coach of his generation, has been
counseling the President on how unhappy Nick is that the
game that made him rich and famous is no more.

(00:40):
You remember the coach and the school owned the kid. Well,
now the kids own the coaches and the schools. Trump's
executive order essentially does bupkus. Its policies, not laws. Policies
can be challenged legally. His policies are four things, says
No third party pay for play, meaning booster money to

(01:01):
a guide just to be here can't happen. The bogus
money is supposed to go away too. No more five
thousand dollars checks just to have the starting quarterback do
a birthday video for some booster's grandson. Trump simply redeclares
an existing rule. Athletes can do endorsement deals, autograph shows,
personal appearances, but they have to be legitimate, designed to

(01:22):
promote a brand, and be paid fair market value protections
for Olympic sports. Schools can't cut scholarships or opportunities for
athletes in sports that don't generate revenue. This is swallowing
a cinder block for some schools, which we'll have to
choose university cash for football players or scholarships for the

(01:43):
tennis team. Now this one should bother you. It's Unamerican.
The Executive Order says athletes are not employees. Yes they are,
they just haven't been classified as such. But soon as
the first check from the athletic department clears, there is
no disputing they are getting paid to perform, just like
you and me at our jobs. They are employees, just

(02:05):
as thousands of other college students on work study or
service part timers in a department are employees. I was
one working the campus radio station in the summertime for money.
In this context, it's keeping athletes from becoming employees, meaning
they can't form a union and collectively bargain Saban doesn't
want that, so Trump doesn't want that. And the last

(02:29):
one is pretty big, protection of the NCAA and member
schools from lawsuits. The NCAA has been in court for
thirty years fighting off anti trust claims. This executive order
doesn't eliminate lawsuits, but it does allow the NCAAA to
enforce its own rules without fear of getting hauled off
to the courthouse temporarily. The thing is his Justice Department

(02:50):
can't enforce a law that doesn't exist, to say nothing
about the NCAA, and all of these conferences are volunteer
organizations like a country clubs. His eos on the border
and sanctuary cities work because that's the government. College sports
ain't the government. But this executive order does have one effect,

(03:11):
slowing down genuine, transformative legislation that is desperately needed. There
are nil bills in the House, but getting sixty votes
to pass the US Senate is sizably harder than issuing
executive orders. Heck, Senate Republicans aren't even unified behind it.
Try finding seven Democrats who would rather conduct a self

(03:32):
apendectomy than support anything Trump is behind. But if Trump
and saban really want to fix college sports, he slash,
they should support a National Union of the athlete employees.
Let them collectively bargain cut a deal that gives them
a percentage of the money minus operational costs. With a

(03:53):
cap and a floor, the NCAA can negotiate an enforcement mechanism.
Donors can still give to the universeity, not the guys.
Then they hire licensed agents to do endorsement deals. Former
coach Mack Brown blew the lid off of this in
a podcast this weekend. He says the university's conferences took
all the money, the players and their families got nothing.

(04:13):
The appetite for radical change is large, calls not for
eos out of this president, but deal making