Florida A&M basketball coach Charlie Ward recently found himself in rarefied company.
He was surrounded by some of the biggest names and decision-makers in college athletics, as ongoing debates about NIL took center stage in Washington.
“It was amazing to be in the room with a lot of heavy hitters in the sports industry,” Ward told Fox & Friends. “Sometimes you just want to be a fly on the wall — and I definitely was. There was a real sense of urgency to get something done for the future of college sports, particularly when it comes to governance, NIL, rev share, and the transfer portal.”
Ward was one of 50 sports, politicial and business dignitaries invited by President Donald Trump to the White House to discuss the myriad of issues — real and imagined — facing college sports.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: “This is out of whack.”
He then cites players asking coaches for more money and threatening to transfer as issues in the sports. pic.twitter.com/0JXuU9qjPY
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) March 6, 2026
The former Heisman Trophy winner at Florida State and ex-NBA player said the discussions provided meaningful insight into how college athletics might evolve in the coming years. Ward noted that while Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals have created new opportunities for student-athletes, many still misunderstand how NIL differs from revenue sharing.
President Trump to draft executive order
“First, we’ve got to decipher that NIL and revenue share are totally different,” Ward explained. “True NIL is what we see when athletes like Arch Manning do commercials or partner with national brands — that’s legitimate marketing value. Some players also make money through social media deals, and that’s another form of NIL. But it’s only a small segment of athletes who are involved at that level.”
President Trump on Friday said he will write an executive order within a week that will “solve all of the problems.”
College sports, he said, need federal legislation to restore order in the NIL space and its overall economics.
“I will have an executive order within one week, and it will be very all-encompassing,” Trump said. “And we’re going to put it forward, and we’re going to get sued, and we’re going to see how it plays, OK, but I’ll have an executive order, which will solve every problem in this room, every conceivable problem, within one week, and we’ll put it forward. We will get sued. That’s the only thing I know for sure.”
Ward said the revenue-sharing side of college sports is where schools, collectives, and boosters have created a more complex system — and where meaningful regulation might be most needed.
“The rev share part is up to the school, but now the schools have collectives,” he said. “Those collectives are supporting the school by adding money on top of what’s already shared, and that’s where you see the bigger numbers and top players getting certain amounts.”
Ward suggests trickle down distribution model
To bring consistency — and fairness — to the system, Ward proposed a cap structure similar to those used in professional sports.
“I’ve always said, if you cap the rev share, it’s just like the NBA or the NFL,” Ward said. “You could even build in a luxury tax. If a school goes over that limit, that extra money could go into a fund to support smaller programs like Florida A&M and other Division I universities. Let that money trickle down to us.”
For Ward, the conversation is about more than just money. It’s about preserving balance in college athletics and ensuring that the opportunities afforded by NIL and revenue sharing benefit the entire ecosystem — not just the programs with deep pockets.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing how these ideas can come to fruition,” Ward said.
