Donald Trump warns 'rich colleges will go bust' as he shares $13M QB concern

President Donald Trump has warned colleges that Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals for top athletes could backfire, as he believes that the rising costs to lure talent are unsustainable.

Previously, college athletes were prohibited from earning money through their athletic success, with an increased emphasis on education and personal growth, both as individuals and as athletes. However, in 2021, the NCAA allowed athletes to profit from NIL deals.

Former Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers was offered up to $8 million to extend his collegiate career this season, but he declared for the NFL Draft and will earn a base salary of $840,000 in 2025. The NIL changes have led to backlash from traditionalists, and Trump has offered a reality check from a financial standpoint.

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Trump appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, honoring the military on Veterans' Day as the show was filmed at Parris Island. Trump was asked about the landscape of college football and gave an honest response.

Legendary head coach Nick Saban retired in 2023 and later admitted that no longer aligned with the college football values after NIL was introduced. Trump, who has met Saban on several occasions, warned colleges that negative consequences may occur unless NIL is restructured.

, Trump said: "Well, it is a very serious problem because even football, when they give quarterbacks $12M, $13M, $14M, I read a couple of them, and all of a sudden you're going to see it's going to be out of control.

"And even rich colleges are going to go bust. Because you're not going to be able to do this. The old way, they gave scholarships and they did lots of good things, there could be some form of payment. But when they start bidding up the cost.

"Look, the NFL, and all teams, they have caps. You don't really have that in college sports, and when the guard comes along that weighs 350lbs and he's phenomenal, and that's going to make the difference between having a great team and a lousy team, and they give them $10 million, that's going to start happening pretty soon.

"All of a sudden, you're going to have NFL-type payrolls. And I don't care how rich, colleges don't make that much money, even the most successful. So they're not going to be able to do this. Bad things are going to happen unless they figure this out."

While Trump's angle was financial, Saban disagreed with the spirit of college football and believes that priorities have shifted with the introduction of NIL. Speaking at an NIL roundtable last year in Washington, D.C, Saban gave an honest assessment.

"It's whoever wants to pay the most money, raise the most money, buy the most players is going to have the best opportunity to win," Saban said. "I don't think that's the spirit of college athletics.

"I don't think it's ever been the spirit of what we want college athletics to be. That's my major concern: the combination of pay-for-play, free agency, and how that impacts development.

'All the things that I believed in for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics. It was always about developing players. It was always about helping people be more successful in life."

Saban concluded his address by saying: "As I said before, Name, Image, and Likeness is a great opportunity for them to create a brand for themselves. I'm not against that at all, but to come up with some kind of a system that still can help with the development of young people is paramount to the future of college athletics."