NU president to participate in Trump's college sports roundtable

University of Nebraska President Dr. Jeffrey Gold is among a group of roughly three dozen people who will meet with President Donald Trump next week as part of a roundtable aimed at fixing perceived problems in college sports.

“College athletics programs connect us to long-held traditions, bring together our campuses and the surrounding communities, unlock incredible opportunities for our student athletes, and contribute to our shared identity as Nebraskans,” Gold said in an emailed statement. “I look forward to joining colleagues from across the country for this important conversation.”

Gold is one of three university presidents who will be part of the roundtable, according to Yahoo Sports, which first reported the members of the roundtable. One of the others is University of Tennessee President Donde Plowman, who is a former executive vice chancellor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Gov. Jim Pillen, in a social media post, thanked Trump for convening the roundtable and said he was, "grateful that Nebraska and the University of Nebraska system will be represented by President Gold in this conversation."

The group is a mix of university presidents and athletic directors, conference commissioners, former coaches, sports figures, and business and media executives. Trump will serve as chair of the roundtable, Yahoo Sports reported. The vice chairs will be Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and New York Yankees president Randy Levine.

The roundtable plans to discuss issues such as the transfer portal; name, image and likeness deals; conference realignment; and financial inequity among schools.

The Big Ten has been one of the main forces behind conference realignment. When Nebraska joined in 2011, it was the conference’s 12th school. The conference now has 18 members.

It’s also one of the poster children for the financial gap between the haves and have nots of the college sports world.

The Athletic reported Thursday that Ohio State brought in $336 million in athletic department revenue for the 2025 fiscal year, which was $132 million more than fourth-place Nebraska and $212 million more than last-place Maryland.

The Athletic’s analysis did not include USC and Northwestern, which are private universities and therefore not subject to public disclosure of their finances.