While there’s still little known about President Donald Trump‘s commission on college sports — even co-chair Nick Saban remains in the dark — one of Saban’s former Alabama players has some interesting suggestions on how the still-yet-to-be-determined working group could address what’s currently ailing college football.
ESPN analyst Greg McElroy recently addressed the presidentially-mandated commission and proposed an array of fixes the commission could attempt to address both the NCAA Transfer Portal and NIL, as well as growing concern between the haves and have-nots within the sport. McElroy’s first fix is to reduce the time the transfer portal is open to a single month — May, specifically.
“I think if we were to limit the amount of time the portal was open, that’d calm things down quite a bit. … I think having the portal opened in the month of May is the best thing for the sport,” McElroy said on last week’s episode of his Always College Football podcast. “… But if we were to open it on May 1st and close it on May 31st, it would do a few different things for us. One, it’d keep college football in the news. … Think about how much traction we’d get in May if players were leaving one place and going to another. … Two, … I think if we move the portal window to May, there would be a renewed emphasis for programs across the country to put a higher priority on the high school talent that could join their roster in January, go through Spring, go through Winter workouts, go through Summer, and hopefully be ready to play come Fall. I want to see more focus on high school players getting opportunities as opposed to players on their fourth school in five years.”
McElroy also suggested the single, post-Spring portal window would limit the sheer number of portal entries and, as such, limit coaches from “poaching off other rosters” because by May, most coaches will likely have a better hold on what their roster will look like in the Fall. According to On3’s latest numbers, of the 4,000-plus players that have entered the portal since the end of the 2024 season, only a little more than 2,400 have committed to new homes — with roughly two out of every five transfers still in the portal.
According to McElroy, the later portal window would also limit emotional decisions being made immediately after the season, citing his own career as an example. Had the portal been around when he was at Alabama, McElroy admitted he would have entertained leaving following the late 2006 firing of former coach Mike Shula. Of course, had McElroy done that, he would have missed out on playing under Saban, who was hired away from the Miami Dolphins more than a month later in early January 2007.
“Had I jumped in the portal, would I have been able to play for Nick Saban and lead Alabama to a national championship as their starting quarterback in 2009? Probably not,” McElroy said. “I would have made an emotional decision that I would’ve regretted for the rest of my life. … I think moving the portal from May 1st to May 31st would be an amazing move for college football, and I think this commission could potentially do that.”
Greg McElroy proposes presidential commission address NIL inequities with universial contract language
With the portal problem potentially solved, McElroy turned his attention to NIL, suggesting the commission develop universal contract language in NIL deals that wouldn’t allow schools to take advantage of favorable state laws. If that’s not possible, McElroy is hopeful the commission could help establish buyout language that would let schools recoup money should a player opt to leave before fulfilling the full term of their NIL agreements.
“It doesn’t have to be a massive hurdle for these players to move from school to school, but there’s a little one,” McElroy explained.
Last but not least, McElroy also proposed creating subsidies for less lucrative programs, like those from the Group of Six or even lower levels, many of whom are contemplating whether or not they can still field a football program in the day and age of NIL.
“We need to figure out a way to subsidize those schools,” McElroy said. “And if that means taking just a sliver of the College Football Playoff revenue, then by all means let’s do it.”
Of course, based on the current state of college athletics, where Florida State and North Carolina sued the ACC because they weren’t receiving equitable revenue compared to that of similar Big Ten or SEC teams, it’s unlikely any of the Power Four leagues would agree to such financial giveaways.
Nevertheless, McElroy clearly had some potential game-changing ideas, many of which might even be given serious consideration by the commission. But whether or not the presidential commission has any power to actually implement any of McElroy’s proposals without facing the threat of anti-trust litigation is unclear, especially given the working group is still in its infancy.