May 1, 2025; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; President Donald Trump shakes hands with legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban before delivering a special commencement address to University of Alabama graduates at Coleman Coliseum. Graduation occurs over the weekend. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Potential NIL Executive Order Could Impact UCLA

Originally posted on UCLA Bruins on SI | By Brock Vierra | Last updated May 3, 2025 1:21 PM ET

At the University of Alabama commencement ceremony, legendary head coach Nick Saban gave a public address last Thursday before welcoming President Donald Trump on stage, before Trump gave his own remarks.

According to The Wall Street Journal's Josh Dawsey, Rachel Bachman and Laine Higgins, in a meeting set up by former Auburn head coach and current U.S. Senator from Alabama Tommy Tuberville, Saban spoke with Trump regarding NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) with the belief that Trump could issue an executive order regarding it.

Tuberville laid out his goal of the meeting on Wednesday.

"Hopefully, we'll get to sit down with Coach Saban," he said. "President Trump wants to help on this NIL. I don't know how he can do it through an executive order. But possibly we can sit down and talk some insight of what Coach Saban thinks about it, what I think about it and we can come up with some sort of agreement because right now it's in a tailspin."

Saban, a massive critic of NIL, has found its implementation, plus its use with the transfer portal, detrimental to the game and to the development of players as players and as people.

While the White House has yet to make a formal statement regarding their intentions with NIL, rumors are circling that a potential executive order would undo years of legislation regarding the issue.

What exactly that means remains to be seen, but UCLA, like all collegiate football programs, may be preparing for a new frontier in a sport already on the Western Front.

Here's the deal. If Trump issues an executive order, the order may challenge the fundamental balance of the U.S. executive branch and the judicial branch, with the result either defining or redefining the roles and powers of each branch.

The order's enforcement may be called into question, considering the NCAA is not a federal entity, they are an association. However, some members of the association are funded by the federal government.

Whichever way the pendulum swings, if an executive order is issued, things are going to get sticky quickly. Without any guidelines on what reform may look like, UCLA must be ready for changes at a moment's notice, as college football is one signature away from looking very different from what it is right now.