Lionel Messi visited the White House with his team Inter Miami, the reigning champion of the American top-tier league MLS (MLS Cup 2025). Inter Miami received an invitation to the White House on Thursday, and Messi, 38, is the star player of the team. According to multiple reports, Donald Trump used the Inter Miami visit to discuss military operations against Iran and potential conflict with Cuba.
During the visit, Trump compared Messi to Pelé, asking which was better, but no one answered. Messi was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January 2025 but did not attend the ceremony, according to Inter Miami. The team's White House appearance highlighted its status as MLS champions.
Who is better?
The event also featured gift exchanges, with Inter Miami presenting a jersey, ball, and watch to Trump, according to multiple reports. In a separate geopolitical move, Donald Trump hosted a 'Shield of the Americas Summit' at his golf club with Latin American and Caribbean leaders to counter China's influence, according to multiple reports. China is the top lender and trading partner in Latin America and the Caribbean, financing projects like the Chancay megaport in Peru and Bogotá metro in Colombia.
Kristi Noem was fired as Secretary of Homeland Security and appointed as special envoy for the summit, according to multiple reports. Conservative leaders from Argentina, Paraguay, El Salvador, Chile, Panama, Honduras, Guyana, and Ecuador attended the summit, while Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil were absent. On the domestic front, Donald Trump convened a college sports roundtable on March 6 with commissioners, coaches, and dignitaries, but no active head coaches attended, according to multiple reports.
We like champions. We like winners and we have many here today.
A White House roundtable spent nearly two hours discussing the future of college athletics on Friday afternoon, led by President Donald Trump, according to research sources. The meeting featured the most prominent political and college sports leaders in the country, with Trump chairing the event, which hosted more than 50 people in the East Room of the White House. Attendees included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis, New York Yankees president Randy Levine, Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator Ted Cruz, NCAA president Charlie Baker, conference commissioners, university officials, former coaches Nick Saban and Urban Meyer, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and Representative Lori Trahan, according to research sources. The roundtable reiterated the need for large-scale reform in college sports, likely via Congressional antitrust exemptions and bipartisan legislation, according to research sources. There was discussion of reviving the SCORE Act, a bipartisan-drafted bill currently paused in the House.
I will produce an executive order in the next week.
The SCORE Act would replace state name, image and likeness laws with a national framework and give the NCAA limited antitrust protection, according to research sources. The financial crisis in college athletics stems from the House v. NCAA settlement, which adds over $20 million to the annual budget for most power-conference schools, according to research sources.
This has caused an economic crisis for many athletic departments, threatening funding for Olympic and non-revenue sports and smaller programs. The House vs. 5 million this year with players as part of a voluntary agreement, not a ruling by a judge.
I took no offense and enjoyed the 'light-hearted' exchange with Trump.
During the roundtable, President Donald Trump made at least 17 false or unfounded statements about college sports, according to research sources. Trump incorrectly blamed a 'radical-left judge from California' for issues like player pay. Research sources note that many changes resulted from settlements or state laws, not a judge's ruling.
The judicial context involves Federal Judge Claudia Wilken, who presided over big antitrust cases against the NCAA in California, including the House vs. NCAA settlement, according to research sources. Wilken presided over Alston vs.
Women are beautiful.
the NCAA and ruled the NCAA violated antitrust law in that case. The NCAA appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld Wilken's ruling by a 9-0 vote in 2021. Wilken was appointed to the federal bench in 1993 by President Clinton, a Democrat.
Legal distinctions are crucial: the Alston case only removed NCAA limits to compensation or benefits for players related to education, not name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation, according to research sources. The Supreme Court never mentioned NIL in its Alston decision. Other forces pressured the NCAA into allowing NIL compensation in 2021, including state laws in California (2019), Florida (2020), and Alabama (April 2020).
Major League Baseball is not as hot.
Other White House events included a Women's History Month gathering where Kaillie Humphries presented Trump with her Order of Ikkos medal, praising his support for women's sports and IVF policies, according to multiple reports. Trump also mocked reporter John Fredericks during a press conference for assuming Trump knew about his son's baseball career. Additionally, Trump met with Alex Rodriguez at the White House, despite previously criticizing him as a 'druggie', according to multiple reports.
Inter Miami presented gifts including a jersey, ball, and watch to Trump during the White House visit, according to multiple reports. On college sports reform, Donald Trump signed an executive order in July directing the NLRB to clarify the employee status of college athletes, according to multiple reports. Multiple speakers at the roundtable stressed that athletes would be consulted and included in the process moving forward.
The implications of Trump's discussions during the Inter Miami visit extend to military matters, though the specific military operations against Iran and potential conflict with Cuba that Trump discussed remain unknown. This pivot from sports to geopolitics highlights the administration's broader foreign policy concerns, particularly in countering Chinese influence through initiatives like the Shield of the Americas Summit. Reactions to Trump's statements and the legislative prospects for college sports reform are mixed.
The roundtable emphasized bipartisan efforts, but the path forward depends on Congressional action and the resolution of financial uncertainties from the House v. NCAA settlement. The unknowns surrounding Trump's false statements and the lack of athlete involvement in discussions add complexity to the reform process.