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NCAA President Charlie Baker said Monday he was “up for anything” when asked about reports that President Donald Trump is set to create a commission on college sports.
The presidential commission would tackle issues the college sports landscape faces with former Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban and billionaire Cody Campbell leading it, Yahoo Sports reported last week.
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Then-former President Donald Trump prepares to throw a football to the crowd during a visit to the Alpha Gamma Rho, an agricultural fraternity, at Iowa State University before an NCAA college football game between Iowa State and Iowa on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023 in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
“I think the fact that there’s an interest on the executive side on this, I think it speaks to the fact that everybody is paying a lot of attention right now to what’s going on in college sports,” Baker said, via the Raleigh News & Observer. “There is a lot going on, that’s not all bad, and I’m up for anything that helps us get somewhere.”
Commissioners of the top conferences in the NCAA have already asked Congress to step in to help the NCAA regulate name, image and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal.
Greg Sankey, Jim Phillips, Tony Petitti and Brett Yormark were on Capitol Hill last month. Yormark, the Big 12 commissioner, bluntly admitted to Bret Baier on “Special Report,” “We need help from Congress.”
“From where I sit today, federal preemption, having a standardized platform that oversees and governs NIL is critically important,” Yormark said. “Today, 34 states see it very differently, and it’s relatively unruly.”
NCAA President Charlie Baker speaks during the organization’s Division I Business Session at their annual convention on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/George Walker IV,File)
CHARLES BARKLEY CALLS NCAA A ‘BUNCH OF IDIOTS AND FOOLS’ AMID CURRENT NIL LANDSCAPE
“The volume of laws that are being passed on a state level are making it really difficult for us to regulate and compete nationally,” Petitti added. “Every single time someone doesn’t like a ruling, or something comes from the NCAA, we end up in litigation. Those rules then get aggregated, and we’re back to the start.
“We’re hopeful that the combination of what we’ve done in the settlement will give us an opportunity, with some help from Congress, to really put a system in a place that has some stability.
“We’ve crossed the bridge of being willing to provide revenue … but we need to have some structure. We can’t have a system that has complete unregulated movement.”
It is unclear when the commission would be finalized.
President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban before delivering a special commencement address to University of Alabama graduates at Coleman Coliseum. (Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News)
The NCAA and collegiate athletes have waited for the $2.8 billion House settlement to be approved. It will allow schools to share revenue with athletes directly for the use of their NIL.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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