Saban, Trump executive order discussions ‘unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions’

Talk of a name, image, and likeness (NIL) executive order by President Donald Trump and former University of Alabama coach Nick Saban is “unmerited and unhelpful,” according to one attorney involved in litigation with the NCAA.

Steve Berman, a co-founder and managing partner at Hagens Berman, is representing a class of hundreds of thousands of current and former college athletes in a pending $2.78 billion settlement with the NCAA, including a revenue-sharing provision worth at least $20 billion. The settlement is still pending in court but is expected to be finalized soon.

Trump discussed a possible NIL executive order with Saban before he gave a commencement address to graduates on Thursday, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Berman criticized Saban in a statement on Monday for initially opposing NIL while he was still coaching.

“While he was a coach, Saban initially opposed NIL payments to athletes, pushing to add restrictions and red tape through national legislation to add ‘some sort of control.’ During his time scrutinizing the athlete pay structure, he made tens of millions of dollars and was previously the highest-paid coach in college football,” Berman said.

Berman said Saban and Trump’s executive order discussions were “unmerited interference.”

“Coach Saban and Trump’s eleventh-hour talks of executive orders and other meddling are just more unneeded self-involvement,” Berman said. “College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals. They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”

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