Trump’s Controversial Stance on College Athlete Pay: Sparks Fly as Tiger Woods Sits Out Major Event

At the White House on Friday, President Donald Trump hosted a much-anticipated roundtable on college sports, gathering an impressive lineup of athletic leaders. However, the event was marked by the absence of one significant figure: Tiger Woods, whose son Charlie is poised to embark on a college golf career.

The meeting brought together conference commissioners, college athletic directors, and numerous other stakeholders within the sports community. Their mission was to bolster support for the proposed SCORE Act, which aims to impose stricter regulations on the compensation of student-athletes.

During the discussion, President Trump did not shy away from expressing his dissatisfaction with retired Judge Claudia Wilken. Wilken is known for her pivotal 2014 decision in the O’Bannon v. NCAA case, which challenged the NCAA’s restrictions on compensating athletes for their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Her ruling, based on the Sherman Antitrust Act, opened the door for athletes to receive payment for their NIL rights, a shift that Trump criticized.

“A person who knew nothing about sports made a ruling, and she turned the whole thing upside down. And it’s really a disgrace, if you want to know the truth. A damn disgrace,” Trump remarked, targeting Wilken and, by extension, the Supreme Court’s support of the decision.

‘A person who knew nothing about sports made a ruling, and she turned the whole thing upside down. And it’s really a disgrace, if you want to know the truth. A damn disgrace,’ Trump said.

He added, ‘It’s just a shame… I looked at what’s happened to colleges and to college sports, and it is colleges, because colleges are going to go out of business.’ 

Friday marked President Donald Trump’s roundtable discussion on college sports

Trump attacked Judge Claudia Wilken and his own Supreme Court over their rulings which paved the way for college athletes to be paid. He also repeatedly mentioned his desire to return things back to the way they were and only pay athletes smaller sums than they are now.

Trump also expressed his intention to sign an executive order to control college sports

‘When I look at what a person that’s a judge was able to do to destroy colleges and college sports that were so good, no problems, it’s very very sad. 

‘And in some ways, I’d like to just go exactly back to what we had and ram it through a court if we have to, because I’m not sure you’re ever going to come up with a system that’s comparable to what you had.’

Later, Trump threatened to sign an executive order intervening in college sports because he believes the Democratic Party would not pass the SCORE Act in either the House or the Senate.

While Trump did not specify what the executive order would say, he mentioned it would be a ‘common sense’ and ‘very well thought out’ solution. The President also openly challenged the American court system.

After hearing that the Supreme Court ruled against the NCAA’s opinion that athletes shouldn’t be paid, Trump then attacked the highest court in the country.

‘Hopefully a judge, who’s a real judge, a compassionate judge with common sense would get it approved… let’s see if we can get it through the court system,’ Trump said.

‘If this doesn’t work, colleges are gonna be destroyed, women’s sports are gonna be destroyed… You’re gonna be left with football, and the football is going to lose so much money that the colleges are all gonna go bankrupt, all because of a bad number of decisions made by courts including I guess, the Supreme Court… I think the Supreme Court ought to be ashamed of itself for a lot of reasons, okay, a lot of reasons. 

‘I’ve gotta live with these people… they’ll only vote bad and I couldn’t care less at this point. They have hurt this country so badly because they haven’t got the guts to do what’s right.’

Among the attendees included former Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban

But golf icon Tiger Woods, who was invited to the event, was not present for the discussion

Trump served as the chairperson of this roundtable with Florida Governor Ron Desantis and New York Yankees president Randy Levine serving as vice chairs.

Among the participants included NCAA president Charlie Baker, the commissioners of each ‘Power Four’ football conference, former Alabama football coach Nick Saban, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro.

But Woods, who was initially set to be present at the meeting, was absent from the roundtable.

The Daily Mail has reached out to a Woods spokesman for comment on his absence. 

Woods’ absence is notable considering his son, Charlie Woods, has committed to playing college golf at Florida State University.

Additionally, Woods’ girlfriend – Vanessa Trump – has a daughter, Kai, who is set to play golf at the University of Miami.  

In the roundtable, athletic directors admitted that college football in particular has become such a behemoth that it requires regulating. The discussion also touched on the SCORE Act – a piece of legislation designed to provide a framework for student-athlete compensation.

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua called the sport in its current state ‘a runaway financial train’ while SEC commissioner Greg Sankey called it ‘non-partisan.’

US Olympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland mentioned her worries over the Olympic sports

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips mentioned no athlete is interested in becoming an employee

‘We cannot go on any longer on this circumstance … we’ll fracture more if we fail to act,’ Sankey noted.

There was also a note of concern for the Olympic sports and for women’s sports.

US Olympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland noted that Olympic sports for men and women are seeing declining investment in the wake of the ‘House ruling.’

‘The pursuit of excellence deserves a system that continues to invest in them,’ Hirshland said.

While praising the discussion, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told Trump ‘we need your help.’

Phillips also noted that no athletes have told him that they wish to be employees, noting, ‘They’re smart enough to understand what that means.’