White House Reportedly Pauses Plans for Presidential Commission on College Sports

Following Nick Saban's comments this week that a commission on college sports isn't necessary, the White House is reportedly halting those plans at least for the time being.

Per Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, the presidential commission for college sports is being paused in an attempt to potentially give a Congressional committee more time to reach agreement on federal legislation.

Dellenger reported on May 7 that President Donald Trump was working on a plan to create a commission on college sports in an attempt to resolve the ongoing issues within college athletics.

Player movement via the transfer portal, unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts are among the issues that would be looked into by the commission, per Dellenger.

The commission came at a time when federal legislation for college athletics remains at a stalemate.

Congressman Michael Baumgartner introduced the Restore College Sports Act on April 8. The proposed legislation aims to establish "clear rules for athlete compensation and program governance" and implementing a national NIL revenue-sharing system.

Senator Ted Cruz, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, told ESPN's Dan Murphy back in January it was a "major" priority to pass a law that would help provide NCAA regulations that would limit how much money student-athletes could earn in a way that doesn't violate federal antitrust restrictions.

NCAA president Charlie Baker told reporters last week he was "up for anything" when asked about the reports of Trump's idea for a presidential commission.

"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.

Saban had been mentioned as one of the potential heads of the commission, but the former Alabama head coach told reporters on Tuesday he didn't see the need for a commission because a solution doesn't seem that complicated:

"I think we need—we know what the issues are, we just have to have people who are willing to move those and solve those and create some solutions for some of those issues. I'm all for being a consultant to anybody who would think that my experience would be beneficial to helping create some of those solutions."

There have been at least seven proposals for federal legislation in college athletics since 2021. That total doesn't include various NIL laws that have been passed by individual states.