Alabama head coach Nick Saban will join a group of prominent SEC figures on a trip to Washington, D.C., this week to discuss potential NIL regulation. The officials are expected to encourage lawmakers to pass federal legislation to better define ways in which college athletes can profit from their notoriety.
The delegation will also include SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, who said that issues in college athletics could only be solved outside intervention.
“There’s a lot that goes on between our campuses and D.C. And so this is an opportunity to focus on athletics and some of the pressures that we’re facing,” Sankey said, according to Fox News. “To communicate that, given the realities in college athletics, Congress is the place that can fix the issues we have.”
According to Saban, who spoke at 2023 SEC Spring Meetings in Florida last week, the issues with current NIL guidelines is that they are not fully developed and leave too much room for exploitation and disparity between schools and athletes. Saban did not say he was opposed to the concept and even went as far to support a players’ union, similar to the one seen in the NFL.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a level playing field because some people were showing a willingness to spend more than others,” Saban said. “Whereas, if you want to bring the NFL into it, they have a salary cap. They have all the things that level the playing field. We can put guidelines on this stuff that would do the same thing.”
The SEC reception with lawmakers is scheduled to take place on June 7, and individual meetings will take place the following day. Saban will likely serve as a prominent face in the delegation in order to increase publicity and congressional participation in the effort.
