Exclusive | White House meetings on college sports money mess to give athletes key role for first time starting this week
President Trump’s plans to reform the business of college sports are ramping up this week – and college athletes are slated to join the talks for the first time, On The Money has learned.Sources with firsthand knowledge of the matter say 30 collegiate athletes from various sports will be part of the ongoing discussions spearheaded by the White House, New York Yankees President Randy Levine and Florida Gov.Ron DeSantis.Levine and DeSantis are co-chairs of Trump’s new Saving College Sports Roundtable, a group of about two dozen executives from the college and professional levels, to fix the financial side of college sports.
They’ll tackle the insane money grab known by its acronym, NIL, or “name, image and likeness.”The upcoming meetings involving the athletes have not been reported and they are set to address simmering concerns about the president’s reform process – including gripes that it didn’t include input from the college players themselves.An NCAA rep tells On The Money that group has “enacted long overdue change in college sports and will continue to tackle emerging issues facing student-athletes and administrators.The NCAA will not comment on confidential DI Cabinet meeting agenda items at this time.” On The Money did not immediately learn the names of the athletes who will participate in a series of Zoom calls beginning on Wednesday.The roundtable sought out a diverse group of athletes from the big four NCAA conferences, Division II and III schools and schools like Notre Dame that are independent from conferences.
The players involved cover most major college sports from football to basketball to Olympic competitions, sources said.They added that there will be significant representation of women at the coming meetings.“This will be a big week for the roundtable,” said one person with knowledge of the matter.
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