President Donald Trump is reportedly on the golf course with a pair of college sports’ most influential figures on Sunday days after a judge approved the settlement in the House v. NCAA case.
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua are the college-sports duo getting facetime with Trump on Sunday.
At Trump’s request, Bevacqua and Sankey are joining the president to discuss the future of college sports, per Yahoo! Sports.
Sankey has worked for the SEC since 2002 and been the league’s commissioner since 2015. Bevacqua has worked in sports as a media executive for several years before becoming Notre Dame’s athletic director last year.
Judge Claudia Wilken’s ruling paves a pathway to allow colleges and universities to directly pay their athletes and changes the dynamic of American collegiate athletics forever.
A decade ago, college athletes were treated as amateurs and were not directly compensated for their contributions to athletic departments, nor were they able to be paid by outside companies.
Donald Trump is reportedly on the golf course with a pair of college sports’ influential figures
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua met with Trump for golf
With the rise of name, image, and likeness agreements in 2021, athletes could sign endorsement deals with companies and collectives of donors could pool money which could be given to athletes.
Some of the highest earning college athletes via NIL deals have been Arch Manning with an estimated $6.5 million alone with Livvy Dunne who earned $4.1 million.
Now, with this landmark ‘House settlement’, the NCAA’s member institutions will be allowed to pay their athletes directly in the form of revenue sharing agreements.
As part of the agreement, the NCAA will give up more than $2.7billion in back pay to thousands of former athletes who were barred from earning revenue over the years.
Over the next year, the House settlement will allow each school to share up to $20.5m a year with their athletes.
The focal point of this case began with Arizona State swimmer Grant House, who sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences at the time – the SEC, Big Ten, Big XII, ACC, and Pac-12 – to lift restrictions on revenue sharing.
Wilken gave approval to a final proposal after months of negotiating multiple finer points of the deal – including roster limits.
How exactly Sankey and Bevacqua were chosen to represent the sport is unclear. However, Sankey runs the most prestigious college conference and Bevacqua is on top of one of the most profitable athletic programs in the nation.
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Trump golfs with college sports’ most influential figures as president weighs move days after groundbreaking ruling
