It did not take long — nanoseconds, at most — for critics to emerge Wednesday in the aftermath of a report that President Donald Trump plans to create a commission on college sports. The blowback made perfect sense given that Trump is highly polarizing and the NCAA is widely loathed. But the development is actually good news for an industry hurtling towards anarchy, because something is better than nothing.

And nothing is precisely what college sports officials have gotten following repeated attempts to persuade Congress to create a binding, lasting legal framework for the NCAA.

“If (Trump’s commission) can expedite congressional assistance and create pathways for getting big, tangible things done — instead of just calling out problems we already know exist and dusting off their hands — I’m all for it,” a high-ranking power conference executive told the Hotline (via text message).

“I know people criticize the idea of another commission. But if the President of the United States is committed to solving the problems that can be solved in our industry, I’ll take that over apathy any day.”

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban and billionaire businessman Cody Campbell, a Texas Tech booster, are expected to help lead the commission, according to Yahoo.

No other names have emerged. Nor is there a stated timeline for any formal announcement. Also uncertain: The extent of the commission’s authority, a timeline for action and the issues it plans to address. And there’s a chance Trump could lose interest if, for example, he needs to prepare invasion plans for Greenland.

But for the moment, an industry battered by the transfer portal, NIL (name, image and likeness) and antitrust lawsuits has a fleck of a morsel of reason for optimism.

“I’m always a bit reluctant to have the federal government poking around in my business, invited or uninvited,” noted another industry source, who has worked with multiple conferences. (The Hotline granted anonymity to allow sources to respond candidly.) “However, in this case, it might potentially do some good to get some of the higher-level issues figured out.”

Those higher-level issues are deeply rooted, extraordinarily complex and seemingly intractable. Here are four:

— The NCAA’s economic model is an inverted pyramid of subsidization. The 12 or 15 biggest football brands subsidize all other schools in the four power conferences; the power conferences subsidize the rest of the Football Bowl Subdivision; the Football Bowl Subdivision subsidizes Division I; and Division I subsidizes the entire NCAA.

— Major college sports is big business and has been declared as much by no less an authority than Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose concurring opinion in NCAA v. Alston included the following: “Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate.”

Yet nowhere else in America are businesses required to support dozens of money-losing subsidiaries. Only football and men’s basketball are profitable; they provide the funding for the Olympic sports that bleed cash but are backed by Title IX.

— That funding model has forced schools to follow the money, even if it means flying from Los Angeles to New Brunswick, N.J. for a conference game. And the bulk of that money is provided by two companies, ESPN and Fox, that care about ratings first and foremost.

(If Trump really wanted to stock his commission with college sports powerbrokers, he would appoint ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro, Fox Sports boss Mark Silverman and either Kavanaugh or Chief Justice John Roberts.)

— There are only two ways to lend order to the transfer portal and halt the antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA. One option is to collectively bargain with the athletes. But that step requires the schools to declare them employees — a move staunchly opposed by university presidents. The other escape hatch depends on help from Congress, which can provide antitrust protection.

And that’s where Trump’s commission enters the chat.

There is only so much the White House can do. Executive orders won’t, for example, supersede dozens of state laws governing NIL payments.

“The executive branch doesn’t really have much power to do anything here,” explained an industry source with expertise in sports law, “so maybe they offer some recommendations that serve to push some legislative effort.”

Related Articles

Pac-12, Mountain West agree to mediation over poaching penalty, exit fees

College football Top 25 rankings: Clemson is No. 1, then Penn State, Texas

CFB recap: Bill Belichick, the CBS fiasco and bread crumbs to realignment

Mailbag: Big Ten, SEC and the next FBS realignment wave

Stanford AD search: How GM Andrew Luck’s role impacts candidate pool

That, folks, is the key. If Trump remains engaged and appoints the right mix of voices — the commission must include “a diverse group of smart stakeholders with real college sports operating experience,” one observer noted — the project could lead to substantive progress on the legislation needed.

Ideally, Congress would offer antitrust protection and codify the House v. NCAA settlement that creates a revenue-sharing model and is expected to be approved this month. But college sports leaders would gladly accept help on either front. Something is better than nothing.

But don’t bet on it, not even a nickel.

Thus far, Democrats and Republicans alike have been reluctant to construct the lifeboat needed.

For Alabama to South Alabama, the existing economic model is both upside down and inside out.

College sports is filled with disgruntled athletes (current and former), and there’s no shortage of attorneys eyeing a pound of the NCAA’s flesh.

And because there is no women’s sports equivalent to football — and football pays the bills, after all — true salvation requires protection from lawsuits related to Title IX.

Put another way: A meaningful, lasting assist from the White House that creates peace and order across the land would seem unlikely, even if the vehicle for reform were commissioned by Lincoln himself.

*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to [email protected] or call 408-920-5716

*** Follow me on the social media platform X: @WilnerHotline