Some NCAA champions from this past season have their tickets punched to the White House.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are inviting dozens of NCAA men’s and women’s national championship teams to “College Athlete Day” on June 12, a White House staff member tells Sports Illustrated. The White House is expected to release the news soon with additional details.
The news comes a day after the Bidens extended White House invitations to the men’s basketball champions, UConn, and the women’s basketball champions, LSU. They will each visit Washington, D.C., on May 26.
On College Athlete Day, dozens of championship teams across different sports and different NCAA divisions are expected to visit. The NCAA holds 90 championships in 24 sports across its three divisions.
It is customary for select NCAA and professional championship teams to receive invitations to the White House. The college football national championship teams have for years made a spring or summer trip to the nation’s capital.
The tradition of sports teams visiting the White House began in 1865. Then President Andrew Johnson hosted the Brooklyn Atlantics and the Washington Nationals of the National Association of Base Ball Players. White House invitations have historically been extended to champions of the Little League World Series, NBA, WNBA, NFL, NHL, NASCAR and MLS, as well as some Olympians.
It’s a rarity for FCS champions to visit the White House. It is believed to have happened twice. Bill Clinton invited Youngstown State in 1995, and Donald Trump invited North Dakota State in 2018. South Dakota State beat North Dakota State in the FCS championship game in January.
The College Athlete Day isn’t completely unprecedented. George W. Bush began a tradition of inviting nonbasketball and nonfootball DI champions to an event each year.
White House invites have grown somewhat political and divisive. For instance, Trump disinvited the NBA champion Warriors in 2017 after guard Steph Curry said publicly that he did not want to meet the sitting president. NBA champions resumed visiting the White House when Biden assumed office.
