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Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua reacts to President Donald Trump's executive order on college sports

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz08/01/25NickSchultz_7
Pete Bevacqua
Notre Dame director of athletics Pete Bevacqua. (© MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Just over a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on college sports, Notre Dame athletics director Pete Bevacqua reacted. He was among the group around college athletics to praise the order as a step in the right direction.

Bevacqua is entering his second full year as Notre Dame’s AD, but is becoming a key voice in the space. He was part of a group to play golf with Trump earlier this offseason, along with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. The trio talked about the issues around college athletics as the President expressed an interest in the landscape.

Trump officially signed the executive order, titled “Saving College Sports,” last week. Speaking with Sports Business Journal’s Ben Portnoy, Bevacqua said it’s a step toward long-term sustainability and further called for Congress to also take “necessary” action.

“We appreciate the President’s Executive Order which is focused on the continued success of student-athletes and university athletic programs,” Bevacqua told SBJ. “The Executive Order is a meaningful step in efforts to solidify the long-term viability of college athletics and we believe near term congressional action is also necessary to safeguard student-athletes and their opportunities across the nation.”

Sankey confirmed the golf meeting with Trump and Bevacqua, but didn’t get into specifics. However, he said they asked questions of the President and had good conversations about the state of college sports.

“Very conversational, very interested in sports,” Sankey said. “Had been to a UFC event the night before. So, talked through some of the folks he met there. Talked about college sports directly and sharing perspective and asking questions.”

Pete Bevacqua is the latest Power Conference athletics director to react to Trump’s executive order. Alabama’s Greg Byrne and Florida’s Scott Stricklin also released statements praising the President’s efforts to help settle things.

President Trump: Players being ‘traded around like playing cards’

In his executive order last week, Trump called for the protection of non-revenue sports while also calling for a ban on pay-for-play related to NIL. While assessing the current landscape, he noted the amount of dollars – likely referring to revenue-sharing – going toward football and basketball after the House v. NCAA settlement’s approval.

Speaking with reporters from the Roosevelt Room at The White House Thursday, Trump called for “sanity” in college athletics as he continued to call for the protection of non-revenue and women’s sports. That, he said, is one of the focal points of the President’s Council on Sports, Nutrition, and Fitness – which also includes Texas Tech board chair Cody Campbell, another key voice.

“It’s a mess, what happened,” Trump said. “What they’re doing with college football. And the fans are upset about it. Players are being taken from team after team and being traded around like playing cards.

“A lot of money’s passing, and nobody knows what’s happening. So these people behind me are very much involved in figuring that whole thing out and working on it and trying to bring some sanity to that incredible – not only the football, college sports.”