ATLANTA — The latest twist in the quest for federal input on name, image and likeness standards in college sports reached another level Wednesday, July 16.
With the same foundational reality.
Nothing will be easy to get through a divided Congress, and President Donald Trump holds the key to immediate action. CBS reported that Trump intends to sign an executive order on NIL, but offered no details about what might be in the order.
When reached by USA TODAY Sports, Cody Campbell — who has spoken at length with Trump and the administration about the future of college sports — said, “I haven’t heard anything” but that it “wouldn’t be surprising.”
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who along with many in college sports has been advocating for federal intervention, told USA TODAY Sports, “The President is going to do what he wants to do.”
“I’ve read things on social media, but I also read that there would be a presidential commission,” Sankey added. “So the question with an executive order is if (Trump) does, and then what it is, and then we’ll go from there.”
There has been no announcement of a commission on college sports that previously reported in May to be part of Trump’s plans. Campbell — a Texas Tech booster and member of the school’s Board of Regents — was touted to be Trump’s point man in the process and report directly to him.
College sports leaders have met with Congress 13 different times in an effort to gain federal intervention in the NIL process, lobbying for uniform standards and guidelines to the untethered process of players earning outside of revenue sharing with their universities.