Donald Trump calls for major change to stop college sports 'going out of control'

President Donald Trump believes colleges will 'go out of business' if stricter salary caps are not put in place by the NCAA.

College athletes have been able to be paid through name, image and likeness (NIL) deals since 2021, though things went even further in July, after a House v. NCAA settlement approved schools paying athletes directly. The salary cap has been set at a whopping $20.5million per school in 2025-26.

Trump, though, is in favor of 'very powerful caps' as the college sports landscape continues to change.

'It is a very serious problem because even football, when they give quarterbacks $12 million, $13 million, $14 million - I read a couple of them - and all of a sudden you're going to see it's going to be out of control, and even rich colleges are going to go bust,' the president told ESPN's Pat McAfee.

'They had the old way. They gave scholarships, and they did lots of good things. But there could be some form of payments, but... the NFL, and all of you know, all teams, they have caps. You don't really have that in college sports.

'When the guard comes along that weighs 350 pounds and he's phenomenal, and they say, 'That's going to make the difference between having a great team and a lousy team', and they give him $10 million, that's going to start happening pretty soon. All of a sudden you're going to have NFL-type payrolls.'

Ahead of this college football season, Texas' Arch Manning - the nephew of ex-NFL stars Peyton and Eli - was given a $6.8million NIL valuation by On3.

That figure has since dropped to $3.6million, an amount, though, which is still more than most NFL rookies will make in their first pro seasons.

Trump added that 'bad things are going to happen' if colleges continue their massive spending, and also expressed worry for 'lesser sports.'

'... You would call them lesser sports, but big sports, good sports, and sports where they have tremendous interest, they're getting rid of them, he said.

'A lot of the lesser sports are being totally terminated. You know that? It's a shame. It was almost like a training ground for the Olympics, and a lot of those training grounds are being lost.'

Trump was also asked about legendary college football coach Nick Saban, whom he met with earlier this year and called a 'fantastic guy.'

The president suggested that Saban have a role moving forward in examining the state of college sports and NIL. 

'Nick knows his stuff better than anybody and he's really active in it,' Trump said. 

'I think they oughta' let Nick Saban take a good strong look at it.  And I can tell you from my standpoint, I'd listen to what he has to say.'