ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum questions Trump’s college sports reform meeting as potential ‘circus’

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PresidentDonald Trumpwill host a White House roundtable regarding college athletics reform later this week.

The panel is expected to include prominent coaches, college sports and pro sports league commissioners, and other professional athletes, accordingto OutKick.

The group will meet March 6 to examine solutions to key challenges, including NCAA authority;name, image and likeness issues (NIL);collective bargaining;and governance concerns.

President Donald Trump holds a football presented to him during a ceremony to present the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy to the US Naval Academy football team, the Navy Midshipmen, in the East Room of the White House on April 15, 2025 in Washington, D.C.(BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

The meeting Friday will include big names like Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Adam Silver and Tiger Woods.Trump has been adamant about “saving college sports,” evensigning an executive ordersetting new restrictions on payments to college athletes back in July.

However, ESPNcollege analystPaul Finebaum, who has previously hinted at a congressional run as a Republican, remains a bit skeptical.

“The easiest thing, guys, is just to say this is ridiculous,” Finebaum said to Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelicon WJOX.“And I read the other day, ‘Why is Nick Saban going?’ Why is anybody going?The bottom line is this.If something doesn’t happen very quickly, and I mean in the next short period of time, we’re talking about weeks, not years, then this thing could blow up.

“However it came about, I’m in favor of.The question now becomes, with some of the most powerful people in Washington in the same room, including the most powerful person in the country, can anything get done, or will it be a circus?Will it be just another show?”

U.S.President Donald Trump shakes hands with former Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban as Trump takes the stage to address graduating students at Coleman Coliseum at the University of Alabama on May 01, 2025 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump’s order prohibits athletes from receiving pay-to-play payments from third-party sources.However, the order did not impose any restrictions on NIL payments to college athletes by third-party sources.

AHouse vote on the SCORE Act(Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements), which would regulate name, image, and likeness deals, was canceled shortly before it was set to be brought to the floor in December.

The White House endorsed the act, but three Republicans, Byron Donalds, Fla., Scott Perry, Pa., and Chip Roy, Texas, voted with Democrats not to bring the act to the floor.Democrats have largely opposed the bill, urging members of the House to vote “no.”

President Donald Trump looks on before the college football game between the US Army and Navy at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, on Dec.13, 2025. (Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

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The SCORE Act would give the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption in hopes of protecting the NCAA from potential lawsuits over eligibility rules and would prohibit athletes from becoming employees of their schools.It prohibits schools from using student fees to fund NIL payments.

� Chantz Martin and Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

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