Troutman Pepper Partners Michael Lowe and Cal Stein were quoted in the August 6, 2025 The Hill article, “Trump Dives Into the Turbulent Waters of Pay for College Athletes.”

“It’s a concern that’s compounded by the fact that we don’t really know yet how Title IX is going to be interpreted in connection with the payments permitted under the House settlement. So, right now, there is this concern that schools are going to start cutting programs to make up their budget shortfalls,” said Callan Stein, a lawyer who advises higher education clients in the area of college athletics for Troutman Pepper Locke.

“Given President Trump’s leadership over the party, over the entire Republican Party, which is the majority in Congress right now, it seems unlikely to me that any law or bill would progress through either chamber, really, if it wasn’t consistent with the policy, the policies that are stated in this executive order,” said Stein.

“If we’re talking about just law that relates to the NCAA, remember, the NCAA is just an organization. Schools don’t have to be part of the NCAA. There’s long been concerns that the big money schools don’t need the NCAA anymore, and could just form their own entity and do their own thing, and at a certain point, if the money’s enough, why would they, and if you start passing laws to restrict how they operate in the framework of the NCAA, why wouldn’t they just say, ‘Bye, bye, NCAA,'” said Michael Lowe, an attorney in the higher education and NIL space for Troutman Pepper Locke.

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