Roughly 50 sports executives, coaches, and leadership figures met in the White House earlier this year to discuss the future of college sports, but there were only two African-American representatives at the round table.
On his Straight Shooter podcast, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith touched on Donald Trump’s famous “What do you have to lose?” pitch to Black Americans, tying it to the current legislative battle in college sports, as the Protect College Sports Act gains momentum in Washington, D.C.
“Fifty people are invited to the White House. He ain’t one of them,” Smith said, pointing toward Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman’s absence, as well as other Black leaders, while the Trump administration helped craft rules affecting a financial system heavily driven by Black student-athletes.
Smith added. “Black athletic directors, nowhere to be found. Black conference commissioners, nowhere to be found.”
The Senate passed the PCSA by a 77–22 vote, and the bill now heads to the House of Representatives. For his part, Smith wants to know whether the legislation, which aims to establish broad federal rules covering NIL compensation, revenue sharing, scholarships, transfer limits, and antitrust protections for the NCAA, actually protects the young athletes driving the revenue or just restores power to the NCAA and other institutions benefiting from the labor of those athletes.
Not his first time raising concern
In an appearance on Cuomo, Smith touched on the bill’s failure to protect Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“According to the Protect College Sports Act, there’s nothing in the bill guaranteeing any contribution to HBCUs,” Smith said.
“This is not a collectively bargained agreement,” Smith told Chris Cuomo, the show’s host. “And Trump is in the center of it now where he wants to be because he convened a bunch of people; about 50 people got them to the White House to discuss it. It involved commissioners and media executives.”
The bill currently faces an uphill battle, with one House of Representatives source saying there is a “0.0 percent chance” the PCSA gets voted on before the November midterm elections. Hopefully, when and if it finally gets passed, Smith’s concerns are addressed.
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