Nick Saban returns to Capitol Hill for private NIL roundtable
On Tuesday, former Alabama head coach and ESPN commentator Nick Saban is back in Washington, D.C., testifying on a closed-door roundtable in front of the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee’s Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade subcommittee, according to the Washington Post. Saban has repeatedly visited Congress to testify and meet with lawmakers to discuss NIL in college sports.
Saban was last in front of lawmakers on a roundtable last March held by Sen. Ted Cruz. The former Alabama head coach won six national championships in 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide. Donor-led NIL collectives have popped up across the country, with more than 200 organizations. Collecting funds through collectives to funnel back to athletes has become crucial in retaining and attracting talent.
The former Alabama head coach has been outspoken in recent years about the need for guardrails around NIL in college football.
“Well, all the things that I believed in for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics,” Saban said last year. “So it always was about developing players. It was always about helping people when you’re successful in life. My wife even said to me, we have all the recruits over on Sunday with their parents for breakfast. And she would always meet with the mothers and talk about how she was going to help and impact their sons and how they would be well taken care of.
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“And she came to me, like right before our retirement and said, ‘Why are we doing this?’ And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ She said, ‘All they care about is how much you’re going to pay them.’”
The NCAA has long pursued a federal law to supersede state NIL laws and an antitrust exemption, which would provide cover from lawsuits. The NCAA has found itself in a string of courtroom battles in recent years.
Nick Saban’s appearance on Capitol Hill corresponds with the 12th NIL-related Congressional hearing, this time in front of the House Judiciary subcommittee, with a focus on the possibility of an antitrust exemption.