Mr. President, thank you for bringing this esteemed group together. Um I have a bit of a unique perspective because for most of my career I was in professional sports. I became the commissioner three and a half years ago. I found a system that quickly was defined by unlimited free agency and no salary cap in complete chaos. Uh I am and representing the Big 12, we are very much in favor of the SCORE Act. I like to say it's progress over perfection and it provides no different than what Commissioner Phillips said the core principles of what we need to move this thing forward. One thing that we didn't discuss so far today was athlete protection rights which is obviously part of the SCORE Act. And there's a component there about regulating sports agents that we need to really look at. And I know we have some agents in the room and I have a lot of respect for that industry but right now they are taking full advantage of our student athletes. Usually in the NBA or the NFL it's a 3 to 4, maybe 5% commission, in some cases they're charging over 20. We talked about the portal, most agents are pushing our student athletes into the portal and the recent numbers show that over 40% don't even find a home once they get into the portal. And because they're being pushed into the portal, and Mr. Sankey said it earlier, they're losing credits towards their degrees. So we have a problem on our hands obviously and I don't believe in perfection, I do believe in progress and I think the the SCORE Act is a great first step for us to move forward. And on behalf of the Big 12 Conference, we are all in favor of it and we'd like to see a sense of urgency. We need something done soon. Um because if not, you know our university's going to suffer, our student athletes will suffer and and we need help. So we appreciate you bringing us together today.
President Trump Participates in a Saving College Sports Roundtable
Well it's an honor to do it. I just hate to see what you're going through, I hate to see what's happening to our great to our country essentially, because this is our country, this is the youth of our country and it's a terrible thing that's happening because you know uh these crazy payments that are being thrown around you're not colleges are not going to be able to help themselves. Just like the NFL owners would not be able to help themselves if they didn't have a cap. But you have a much bigger problem than a cap and you have a complexity problem and you have a problem where women are being thrown out of sports like at levels never seen before. And you're going to have other things that come up that nobody's even thinking about right now and you're not going to be able to solve these problems. You're just not going to be able to solve these problems. You know, Ted said something before that the Democrats, I think Eric was alluding to it, but you have a lot of Democrats in the Senate that I hear are opposed to almost anything. So if you do and I have to deal with these people all the time, okay? You saw them the other night, they wouldn't stand up for a soldier that was a great hero and got the Congressional Medal of Honor. They sat there, they wouldn't stand up, they wouldn't even smile, they wouldn't clap. For a woman that lost her daughter whose throat was slashed they wouldn't stand up, they sat and they didn't stand up, they didn't do anything. And we have to deal with these people. But Ted, you said that there are seven Democrats that will not vote yes. Eric, you know the situation better than almost anybody in the room except maybe me, I have to deal with it even more than you but you know if you've got all these hardline Democrats that want to see everything fail, it's a problem. You know for a fact these people would vote no? Then what we we need at least seven who will get to yes, because that's how we get to 60. Right now the SCORE Act has zero. Uh so I'm glad the House is moving it and they've got some Democrats in the House, that's beneficial and I think when the House passes it that momentum is helpful. And there are a number of Senate Democrats, I mean I've spent literally thousands of hours negotiating with my Democrat colleagues and and there are a number who want to address it but it it is their political leadership that is telling them to stop and so what has got to happen is the folks in each of the states need to say to your elected Democrats, if you don't act we're going to lose what is so extraordinary about college sports and and you've already lost it. Ted, you've already lost it. Colleges are losing 4-500 million dollars and they haven't even started yet. So you've already lost it in the true sense. And you've lost something else. It's it's ugly what's happened to sports in college. Before it was beautiful, it was a beautiful thing and now it's very ugly, it's become very ugly. And I think you're right. You're going to have people that will never vote for anything no matter what you agree. You could agree to everything that's perfect and they will never vote and and I'm not I'm not doing this as a practical person. No matter what you agree to, you have people in the Senate and in the House that will never vote for it even if it's good for our country, even if it's great for the player, great for the college, and great for our country and they will still vote no. Because they're cuckoo, they've got problems. Maybe it's problems at home, Cody, but they have problems. So that gives us problems. And I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to sit down with some of the people in this room, like Urban, like a coach a very fine coach Nick who won a lot. You won a lot. How many 6 national championships? 7. 7. All right so I think he qualifies right? But I I'd like to sit down with some of the very talented people in this room and we'll pick them out, if you'd like to volunteer, volunteer, and I'd like to design an executive order that I'll write myself based on common sense. And it'll be something that people will be sort of happy about. Some will be sort of happy, others will be sort of happy and maybe that's a good thing. There'll be a few people that won't like anything. But I'd like to write an executive order based on some of the very great talent in this room and we will be sued and we'll go before a court and maybe maybe we'll have a judge that's realistic, reasonable, and wants to do a favor for the country. Because that's the only way this is going to be solved. So I'm going to sit down and I'm going to write an executive order based on many of the statements made today, many of the statements I've been hearing over the last year about what a disaster this is for colleges, for the players, for the families, ruining families, ruining everything. And we're going to do a very well-thought-out executive order. A lot of you are going to be involved in that, all of you, anybody that would like to just let me know. And that'll be placed before the courts and hopefully a judge who's a real judge, a compassionate judge, and a judge with common sense will get it approved. And maybe it won't, and maybe it won't hold up. Maybe they'll say you you can't do an executive order. In which case, you say welcome to the court system of this country, which has gone totally out of control, totally out of control. And maybe not. But that's the only way you're going to get this done. So I'm going to write an executive order and the executive order is going to be based on great common sense and it's going to let colleges survive and players survive and let a lot of people be very, very happy. And let's see if we can get it through the court system, which we might not be able to do. In which case, I guess we'll have to meet again and we'll probably be through the same system. Look, if this doesn't work, colleges are going to be destroyed. Women's sports are going to be destroyed first before anything, before anybody, before anything. Women's sports are already being cut in every college. The first thing they're cutting, which is very unfair, is women's sports. And then they're cutting lesser sports. Sports that are very good sports, great sports are being cut. And you're going to be left with football and the football is going to lose so much money that the colleges are all going to go bankrupt. All because of a bad number of decisions made by courts, including I guess the Supreme Court. If you say it was a bad decision in the Supreme Court. I think the Supreme Court ought to be ashamed of itself for a lot of reasons, okay? A lot of reasons. I got to live with these people and I say this and they'll only vote bad and I could care less at this point. They have hurt this country so badly because they haven't had the guts to do what's right. So and I can tell you about other things too, not just this. So we're going to do an executive order and I think it's going to be an executive order that the people in this room and the students and the colleges will be proud of. Whether or not it holds up in court I can't tell you that. But you're not going to get it through the Senate and you're probably not going to get anything through the House because you have a bunch of lunatics that you have to deal with, Mike, and better you than me. Go ahead. Well, I, I I applaud the effort for an executive order and I think everybody around the table is grateful for that. Might I suggest, Mr. President, that while you're using the Article 2 authority, that we still work in the lane of Article 1. Um the playbook has to be wider than that I think and so what what I would suggest and humbly before everyone here is that we take I think almost everyone around the table we've heard today believes that at least the the SCORE Act is a is a base to work from. Might we still continue to try to work through that? We do have some Democrat support and as was said we've we've got some fine points to get to. Would love to work with you on it. Okay. And and and what I think is and what I was hopeful for is that the leaders around this table representing such a broad array of interests and groups around the country and both parties that the influence, collective influence of the people I hate the word collective, Coach Meyer, I'm sorry, I keep saying but but the influence of all the people around this table could help us get some of those critical, you know Democrat votes in the Senate. And I don't think we should or could abandon that effort, we should try it. I'm an optimist, you know. I think you go both ways. Yes. Let me do an executive order. You go ahead and play games with these people. Okay. Okay? We'll give it the quarterback death. We'll give it a shot. And maybe the fact that we do the one helps you get the votes in the other, okay? Right. Does that sound okay, Randy? Yeah, I think so, and I think at the end of the day, Mr. President, as you've heard here, we need an anti-trust exemption. And the only people who can do it are the Congress uh and I I heard from all the senators and the representatives and I agree the SCORE Act is a start, but with your leadership, I really do believe we can move the ball. I have ideas, brilliant people here have ideas where we can add on it. And based on my conversations with uh Democrats, I think they want to do this. I think the Congresswoman said that, and I think that there's a way to do this. And your executive order, again showing leadership, stepping out, is good, but I think we go on both paths. Don't forget, the executive order can then be put before Congress and Congress can vote on it, change it a little bit, vote on it. But I'm looking to do it straight and let Congress go a different path and you know, you may get a judge that understands what's happening and you may get some very good opinions coming out of a very smart judge who will be beloved all over our country as opposed to hated and disrespected. So that's it. So Randy, could I ask you to do the following uh either a sampling of it or get everybody, in some form uh come up with a proposal uh play with the SCORE Act or do something different than the SCORE Act, but maybe you use the SCORE Act as a base. I separately will get some of the people in this room and we're going to do a really good executive order and maybe Jim will put that executive order in front of the Senate and the House and who knows, maybe we get a vote and maybe we don't. But uh I'm talking about not even going before the Senate and the House, just having an executive order where we'll be sued and we'll go before the courts and here we go again. But I think at the same time you go down a separate track. Is that all right? Okay. Is that okay? Good. Uh other than that we've had a great time. Mr. President. Uh the press uh will take one or two questions. Uh please.
Um, I think President Trump, it sounds like the Russians are helping Iran target and attack Americans now.
That's an easy problem compared to what we're doing here. I mean, but can I be honest? It's just you I have a lot of respect for you, you've always been very nice to me. What a stupid question that is to be asking at this time. We're talking about something else. Can we keep this maybe a little bit go ahead please.
Thank you, Mr. President. My question is for on eligibility. As you know my son Joe is a high-level D1 athlete, third-year relief pitcher, University of Maryland.
How would I know that? He said as you know, I don't even know who the guy is. That's all right.
As you know, the eligibility thing is a disaster in the NCAA. You have Division II, D2 is passing a blanket five-year eligibility without medical, without ratio, just a five-year eligibility. That can be solved in D1 with the commissioners in this room right now. Why don't we solve that?
Okay. Thank you very much. I'd like to know the same thing. You know why you're not going to solve it? Because we've had some very, very bad incompetent decisions. Things that were routine before, that were solved long before. Now you're into a brand new system. Yes ma'am.
Hi, Mr. President, thank you. Could you tell us what went into your decision to replace Secretary Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin?
Oh, is it possible to stay on this subject just for once? You know, just for once. Boy, oh boy. Anybody have any questions on this subject?
Thank you, Mr. President. Uh what is your timeline for either the executive order that you just mentioned or the legislation that the members of Congress...?
I will have an executive order within one week. Well and it'll be very it'll be very all-encompassing. And we're going to put it forward and we're going to get sued and we're going to see how it does, okay? But I'll have an executive order which will solve every problem in this room, every conceivable problem within one week. And we'll put it forward. We will get sued, that's the only thing I know for sure in life, and we'll see how we do in the court system.
Would it take effect, sir? But the courts have destroyed yes, sir. Think about it. The courts a bad court system has destroyed college sports and colleges in this country. And a lot of lives. Mr. President. Yeah please. Mr. President, how how will your executive order be different from the one that you released in July?
You mean the Score Act? Well it'll be a lot different because I don't necessarily agree with the Score Act. I don't know it as well as some people in this room, but I disagree with some of the things in the Score Act. Uh no, the executive order you released in July. How will this one that you're writing this week be different? It'll be more comprehensive. That was put out as a test as a you know, feeler. This will be much more comprehensive because we've all learned a lot in the last pretty long period of time, six months or so period of time. I think uh I think we can do a very good document, I think we can do a document that works from a common sense standpoint whether or not it's going to hold up in court who knows. It honestly it will depend on the judge. Maybe we'll get a wise judge, there are wise judges too. We got some very brilliant wise judges, maybe we'll get lucky.
Mr. President, why why aren't there any student athletes in the room? Why aren't there any student athletes in the room?
Um, we've made it clear and I thought I said it before that uh we have agents here. Um there are a lot of student athlete groups. Uh there's a limited room here and after this meeting we intend to talk to all of the interested student athlete groups to get their input because this can't be done without them. But uh at the end of the day, we had to kick this off and start it. This is the beginning, this isn't the end. Uh I've talked to a lot of people who represent uh student athletes uh and you know, there are certain interest groups that I'm sure would have liked to be here, but they'll have their opportunity.
And they're very well represented. You know why? Because people like Nick Saban and Urban Meyer and some of the people, all the people that I know in the room and the people probably that I don't know, they all care very much about the student athlete, more so than they care about themselves. So I think they're really here in that sense, they're represented very well. Pete, I'll give you one more chance because that was a bad question you asked before. Go ahead.
We've already got a lot of sound bites about this sport. Uh can I ask one off-topic? On-topic. On-topic, okay. Which is unusual for you. Go ahead. Thank you. Uh what is motivating you to do this right now? Because there is a lot of other stuff going on in the world.
Right. That's right. It there a lot. We're doing very by the way in Iran we're doing very well. Uh somebody said how would you score it from zero to ten? I said I'd give it a 12 to a 15. Uh their army is gone, their navy is gone, their communications are gone, their leaders are gone, two sets of their leaders are gone, they're down to their third set. Uh their air force is wiped out entirely. Think of it, they have 32 ships, all 32 are at the bottom of the ocean. Other than that they're doing very well, coach. Very well. We're doing uh our military is doing phenomenally. Uh that's the big thing for this week. We seem to have a new thing every week but the uh the situation with a very bad and very sick group of leaders who were killing a lot of people, a lot of our people were being killed, they were being maimed, they were being destroyed with their uh bombs all over the place planted in roads, we call them the roadside bombs. Walking around without legs, without arms, face blasted. Uh killed many, many people. And we had a choice, we could take it and go on like that for years or do something about it. And we did something about it and people are very impressed with our military and they admire our military with what happened in Venezuela and what's happening now, what's happened with the B-2 bombers before this where they took out the nuclear capability or potential of Iran. Uh I think uh I think we're right now we're a country that's more respected than we've ever been respected before. Uh I saw what was happening with college sports and it doesn't sound very important compared to what's happening in Iran and other places, but it is very important to me and if I can get it done I'll get it done. Uh through bad uh through a bad system, it's a bad system, through a bad legal system, you want to know the truth. We have a situation that is almost unsolvable and we'll see if we can solve it. And you know Pete, the fact is we're talking about colleges that are going to go out of business by many, many colleges are going to be out of business. This isn't just about student athletes. This is about our whole educational system is going to go out of business because of this. So I understand what you're saying in terms of the level of importance but to me this is very important. Very, very important. Thank you. Okay. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.