Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban said that the new executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which seeks to clarify the employment status of collegiate athletes, is a ‘huge step’ in the creation of more opportunities for players.
Saban appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ the day after the order to give his take. Trump’s order mandates the U.S. Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board come up with a plan in the next 30 days to stop athletes from becoming professionals amid the chaos that has reigned in college sports since the implementation of players being able to monetize off their own name, image, and likeness.
‘The executive order provides a huge step in providing the educational model that has always been what we’ve sort of tried to promote to create opportunities for players, male and female alike, revenue and non-revenue, so that they can have development as people, students and develop careers and develop professionally if that’s what they choose to do,’ Saban said.
“It is common sense that college sports are not, and should not be, professional sports, and my administration will take action accordingly,’ the order said.
Saban agreed with the line of thinking and also said that clearing houses and companies are there to authenticate name, image, and likeness.
‘I think we need to make a decision here relative to do we want to have an education-based model, which I think the president made a huge step towards doing that, or do we want to have universities sponsor professional teams,’ Saban continued.
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