President Trump to golf with SEC commish, Notre Dame AD as college leaders seek federal help – The New York Times

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua were scheduled to play golf with President Donald Trump at his course in New Jersey on Sunday as college sports leaders continue to look to the federal government for support.
Two people briefed on the meeting confirmed the president’s plans to The Athletic, speaking on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to speak publicly. Yahoo! Sports first reported about the golf outing.
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Sankey is the longest tenured power conference commissioner and a longtime policy shaper at the NCAA and national level. Bevacqua leads the athletic department of one of the most prominent schools in college sports. The former television executive was previously the CEO of the PGA of America and has a prior relationship with the president going back to the days before he became a politician. In 2014, while at PGA of America, Bevacqua did a deal with Trump properties to host events, including at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.
The meeting comes two days after a federal judge approved a $2.8 billion antitrust lawsuit settlement that will pave the way for colleges and universities to directly pay their athletes for the first time. But the rules and regulations laid out in the terms of the agreement are still vulnerable to legal and political attacks.
College sports leaders have been lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill for legislation to pre-empt myriad state laws that have created a patchwork of rules regarding athlete compensation, address athletes’ employment status and provide some antitrust protection for the NCAA and its conferences.
Now with the settlement of House v. NCAA in place, lawmakers have a structure to build upon — if they can come to agreement on a bill.
Trump has indicated he would like to help facilitate a federal solution for college sports, possibly with an executive order. Plans were in the works for a presidential commission on college sports led by billionaire businessman Cody Campbell, a prominent Texas Tech booster, and former Alabama coach Nick Saban.
The commission is currently on hold as lawmakers in the Senate, led by Republican Ted Cruz of Texas and Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey, work on what they hope will be a bipartisan bill.
Another hearing on college sports and how athletes are compensated for name, image and likeness is scheduled for later this week in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
(Photo of Pete Bevacqua and Donald Trump in 2014: Mike Stobe / Getty Images for PGA of America)
Ralph Russo is a Senior Writer for The Athletic, covering college football. Before joining The Athletic, he spent 20 years as the lead national college football writer for The Associated Press. He also previously worked as the AP’s Mississippi-based sports writer and did a stint with The Denver Post. Ralph is a native New Yorker and a graduate of Fordham University.

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