Will a White House meeting with college sports stakeholders yield anything of substance?

Hello,

Thanks for starting your weekend with NIL Wire. It’s been a newsworthy couple of days, with the college sports White House meeting getting announced and the SEC and Big Ten coming out together against Cody Campbell’s Saving College Sports initiative. We have some notes about that, and NIL contracts finally getting some teeth.

Have a great weekend. We’ll be back Tuesday with more must-read content.

— Kyle

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THE BIG 3

College sports heads to the White House. But don’t expect a miracle.

Some of the biggest names in college athletics have been saying the same thing for years: Can somebody in Washington please help us? 

Well, how about the President of the United States? Next week, more than three dozen power brokers — administrators, former coaches, commissioners, billionaires and brand-name sports royalty — are heading to the White House to meet with Donald Trump to talk about the state of college sports.

The guest list is a Who’s Who of sports figures and politicians: Power Four commissioners, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Yankees president Randy Levine, Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow, Tiger Woods, Texas Tech billionaire booster Cody Campbell, Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Congress has flirted with the idea of regulating college sports. Lawmakers have held hearings. Bills have been drafted. The word “guardrails” has been uttered approximately 3,557,225 times. Meanwhile, college sports has sprinted toward professionalization at full speed with virtually no oversight. 

The President, a well-known sports fan who frequently appears at marquee events, including the recent CFP national title game, has shown an appetite for getting involved. Last summer, he signed an executive order titled “Saving College Sports,” promising to address NIL chaos, whether real or perceived. 

In reality, the President and Congress have provided little to no concrete improvements. And next week’s White House summit isn’t likely to yield meaningful results. It is well established by critics and supporters that anything short of collective bargaining is unlikely to change the landscape. Rules and enforcement are currently a fool’s errand. 

As long as athletes have market power and schools are competing for them with real money, regulation without a CBA is a game of whack-a-mole. Right now, the most important stakeholders in college sports can’t even agree on the problem, let alone the solution.

University leaders want protection from lawsuits. Coaches want roster stability. Boosters want fewer restrictions. Athletes want market freedom. Everyone wants order, but nobody wants to give up leverage.

So college sports sits in a strange middle ground, where it’s wildly popular and more profitable than ever, but occupying an administrative no-man’s land.

SEC and Big Ten draw a line in the media rights sand

NIL has been a lightning rod in college sports since its introduction nearly five years ago. But the pooling of media rights is the current topic du jour.  

On Thursday, the battle lines got very real, as the SEC and Big Ten released a white paper taking direct aim at the idea of pooling media rights across all 10 FBS conferences. The concept, championed loudly and publicly by Texas Tech billionaire booster and board chair Cody Campbell, was labeled “misguided,” a clear shot across the bow. 

Campbell has made amending the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 one of his highest-profile crusades. The 1961 law effectively prevents conferences from combining TV rights. Last fall, he backed the effort with splashy TV ads during games across multiple networks, a full-court press to sell the idea that bundling media rights across all FBS leagues would increase revenue, provide financial stability and level the playing field.

Campbell claims pooled rights could add $7 billion in value over the next decade. The Democrat-backed SAFE Act in the Senate would rewrite the Sports Broadcasting Act to allow consolidation. But the SEC and Big Ten are pushing back on Campbell’s declarations. 

Their study reached the opposite conclusion. (Surprise, surprise!) The white paper didn’t just disagree, it warned that the proposal would create “a dangerously unworkable model” and introduce new risks into an already fragile ecosystem.

Campbell fired back, calling college sports “broken” and accusing those who “made the mess” of profiting handsomely while resisting meaningful reform. He specifically called out Sankey and Petitti, suggesting their resistance shows a lack of concern for smaller conferences, Olympic sports and women’s athletics.

Bowling Green AD Derek van der Merwe publicly sided with Campbell, tweeting that those in the best position to “lead” should be driving meaningful solutions to protect the enterprise of college football.

When the SEC and Big Ten move independently, it shifts the balance of power. When they move together, it can reshape the entire map. They’ve disagreed on plenty over the years. But when the two richest leagues lock arms, the ripple effects often lead to the destabilization of everyone else.

Does breaking an NIL/rev share contract finally have consequences?

The 2025-26 college football offseason will be remembered as the year colleges finally fought back against broken contracts. 

We’ve already watched public disputes swirl around quarterbacks at Washington and Duke. Georgia tried to recoup money from edge rusher Damon Wilson. 

Now, Cincinnati is suing former quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech as one of the portal’s prized additions. The Bearcats are seeking $1 million in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, alleging Sorsby was contractually obligated to pay that amount within 30 days of leaving the program early.

According to the lawsuit, Sorsby committed to play two seasons at Cincinnati. If he departed ahead of schedule, he would owe “a specific amount for the substantial harm that his breach would cause.” That number is $1 million. The university has made it clear that it intends to collect.

Sorsby’s NIL package at Texas Tech is believed to be worth between $4 million and $6 million. His Cincinnati deal, according to the complaint, was set to expire Dec. 15, 2026. The lawsuit also claims he violated the terms of his NIL agreement by appearing on a Times Square billboard announcing his transfer to Texas Tech.

Sorsby’s agent has labeled the lawsuit as “misguided,” arguing that pursuing $1 million sends the wrong message to current and future players. He also maintains that Sorsby and Cincinnati parted ways amicably.

For five years, college athletes have gained unprecedented leverage. NIL money. Immediate eligibility through the portal. Market-driven opportunities. It’s been a long-overdue correction to a system that restricted player movement and compensation for decades. But leverage cuts both ways. When players were underpaid and stuck, schools controlled everything. 

Now that athletes operate in a more professionalized environment, they’re also entering a world governed by enforceable contracts. Freedom and accountability travel together.

The transfer portal isn’t evil. NIL money isn’t ruining the sport. But if Cincinnati is contractually owed $1 million, and if the agreement holds up in court, then this becomes less about loyalty and more about basic business. In the real world, contracts matter. Break them, and there are consequences. Sometimes very expensive ones.

Welcome to the next phase of college football, where the games are still played on Saturdays (most of the time), but the real battles might be happening in federal courtrooms.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

This is why the SEC is just fine with the status quo💲 

The league is distributing more than $1 billion to its 16 members, a $200 million increase from the previous year.

NIL BLITZ

♦️ A sinkhole opened in an Omaha street, and the first responders were two women’s college basketball players.

♦️ Our buddy KC Smurthwaite has a story on how Northern Illinois AD Sean Frazier is navigating the Huskies through their transition from the MAC to the Mountain West (and the Horizon League).

♦️ Charlotte AD Kevin White outlined his plan to elevate the 49ers athletic programs in the AAC during his introductory press conference.

♦️ The Idaho legislature issued a “Joint Memorial” asking Congress to pass federal legislation that would create uniform NIL and revenue-sharing rules, among other requests.

♦️ Memphis has spent $11 million on revenue sharing since July 1, 2005.

♦️ In danger of missing the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive season, Butler AD Grant Leiendecker says he’s committed to Thad Matta as head coach and will give the Bulldogs the necessary NIL cash to compete in the Big East.

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

How many teams should the NCAA tournament have?

• 64 - 54%

• 68 - 28%

• 72 - 4%

• 76 - 1%

• Fewer than 64 - 8%

• More than 76 - 5%