President Joe Biden met with former college football players and advocates Wednesday at the White House to discuss the rights and safety of college athletes. Biden met with a star-studded group of former players which included Andrew Luck, Desmond Howard, Ryan Clark, Rod Gilmore, Keith Marshall and Jordan Meachum.
A statement from the White House said Biden attended the meeting to "hear about why college football players - and all student-athletes - deserve consistent safety standards, a voice, and to benefit from the revenue they produce."
Biden gave the group a tour of the Oval Office and cabinet room and listened to their collective thoughts on players rights — including on the topic of Name, Image and Likeness. NIL has been a hot topic since the NCAA approved a policy that allows college athletes to monetize their names, images and likenesses in the Summer of 2021.
"We didn't talk about the policies in particular," Clark told The Athletic. "I think this conversation was to see what policies can be enacted. It was to see how to have the conversation with the NCAA. It was how to have the conversation with those who want to represent the student-athletes and what policies could be enforced. And to be honest it wasn't about a policy that could only help student-athletes. We want it to be beneficial to the NCAA. Want it to be fair. We want it to be equitable in a way that it can be equitable.
Last month, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick advocated for the NCAA to collectively bargain with athletes after testifying on Capitol Hill. Swarbrick clarified that he was against players being classified as university employees. He suggested giving athletes a special status that would maintain their positions as full-time students at a university, but still allow them to unionize and collectively bargain with a larger entity.
