Jumbo Package: Nick Saban, Donald Trump push for college sports antitrust exemption

The new proposal would put a salary cap on both coaches and administrators, crack down on efforts to circumvent the cap, re-write the eligibility and transfer rules, pool media rights across all conferences and implement the aforementioned “Group of Six” playoff.

Furman noted that Nick Saban is one of many who were in the room for drafting the proposal, along with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a slew of university presidents from power conference teams and the commissioner of every power conference too. Needless to say, that antitrust exemption is the magic bullet and will be a sticking point. The NCAA is currently and has been seeking an antitrust exemption from Congress. The White House has also organized a sports council with Nick Saban and others to discuss and come up with solutions to the Wild West of college sports. College sports are currently enjoying the benefits of professional sports, but without its protections (no standardized contracts, no limitation on funding, lack of competitiveness, unlimited transfers, and no salary cap or luxury taxes, etc.). If the NCAA is without antitrust protection through an exemption it will be nearly impossible to govern college sports because every decision they make could violate antitrust law and subject them to more lawsuits (likely losing endeavors based on legal precedent).

If the NCAA is provided an antitrust exemption, even a limited one, it could regulation NIL nationally. It could place limits on compensation or revenue sharing across the country. There could also be uniform recruiting and transfer rules. Players and coaches could also be held accountable to contracts and financial gains when leaving for another team.

The concern is that an antitrust exemption would allow schools to place a cap on athlete earnings. There is further concern that an exemption would reverse the effect of past lawsuits challenging the NCAA’s authority. However, the larger concern is that the NCAA cannot govern without some guidance or protection. A business model cannot sustain itself if governed by the courts or Congress. It needs to govern itself through the NCAA. This new entity would cover the schools that are fielding employees in a for-profit business model while the NCAA would be left to govern student-athletes. Meanwhile, the enforcement arm from the House settlement won a big arbitration ruling against Nebraska. The CSC noted in its release not only had the third-party arbitrator ruled in support of the group’s application of rules for vetting third-party NIL deals but that it also found the proposed deals between PlayFly and Nebraska had a “lack of a valid business purpose” and also represented “a violation of the rule against warehousing NIL rights.”

PlayFly was deemed an “associated entity” for Nebraska in a case that had been monitored closely by other institutions and their MMR partners such as JMI Sports and Learfield, in addition to PlayFly. Deeming PlayFly an associated entity means that they fall under the CSC’s purview. The key issue here is “warehousing” NIL rights, which is essentially pay for play. Players are paid up front for non-specific promotional work to be performed on non-specific future dates. It is highly likely that those deals will be approved should they be resubmitted with more defined work requirements. Alabama football seems to be on the cutting edge where social media is concerned. NIL changed what the content is actually for. Now, a well-made series attached to the right player can drive his market value, attract brand partners seeking proximity to the program, and attract production companies looking for IP pre-loaded with one of the biggest audiences in sports. The creative department used to submit its budget requests like everyone else. Now it’s part of the conversation about where the program’s money comes from.

Serving that conversation means knowing exactly who you’re talking to, and Brock programs for three or four distinct audiences simultaneously.

The younger fans — the ones Alabama needs to keep cultivating — want the players out of uniform. They want to know who these guys are when the pads come off, what they listen to, how they talk, what they’re actually like. Short, fast, built around personality, lives on TikTok and Instagram. The older Bama faithful, what Brock calls the “Blue Blood fans,” want something longer on Facebook, something that rewards the kind of devotion that survives a losing season. And then there’s the group that might matter most to what Alabama is trying to build commercially: the people who will never call themselves Bama fans and watch anyway. Many an Alabama fan cries poor these days, but Alabama’s football contributions seem to be quite strong. Alabama football’s sport-specific contributions jumped slightly during the 2025 fiscal year, during which the Crimson Tide brought in $53.6 million. That came after an FY 2024 where UA reported $53.5 million in football donations.

According to the NCAA revenues and expenses reports from the SEC’s 15 public schools, obtained by AL.com through a series of open records requests, the Crimson Tide’s football donations were the second-highest in the league. Vanderbilt was not included, as its status as a private school means it is not subject to open records laws.

For the second fiscal year in a row, only Texas brought in more football contributions than the Tide. The Longhorns reported $59.5 million in that category, a drop from its FY 2024 total of $63.3 million. An Ohio State podcast discussed why their series with Alabama was bound to survive. “This game was never going to get canceled,” Krajisnik said. “It’s Ohio State versus Alabama. You think Fox or ESPN was going to let this game get canceled? This is Alabama versus Ohio State. This is a nonconference matchup in the regular season that we’ve only seen one time.”

We’ve never seen Alabama walk into Ohio Stadium. We’ve never seen the Buckeyes roll into Bryant-Denny Stadium. These aren’t just football programs — they’re arguably the two most powerful brands in the sport. And as Krajisnik pointed out, money still matters.

Columbus, Ohio, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, are not turning down the economic and cultural windfall that comes with hosting this series. Last, Greg Sankey was asked about his affidavit opposing Charles Bediako’s eligibility. “I think his (Oats’) position on the NCAA’s determination of eligibility for those who competed, certainly seems in a professional manner, internationally,” Sankey said. “I share that. I’ve not seen litigation about that, but I share those concerns. And I think that’s part of this entire evaluation of eligibility. The NCAA should be engaged upon and come to some conclusions because people need answers.”

To Sankey, whether participation in college athletics is part of the “college-going experience” or not isn’t “that complicated. Still, he laments not knowing how to advise coaches on what the boundaries are due to a lack of “clarity around the rules.”

“That’s frustrating for me. And what coaches will do, and I mean this respectfully, is where the boundaries are, they’ll push. They’ll ask, ‘Can I go a step further?'” Sankey said.

“You push back. People get mad. Life goes on.” Indeed it does, Greg. That’s about it for now. Have a great day. Roll Tide.