College athletes are getting direct cash payments. A Supreme Court case, NCAA v. Alston (2021), opened the way for athletes to get cash compensation. It’s becoming an unaffordable disaster.
“NIL” stands for “name, image, and likeness.” It refers to a person’s legal right to control how their image is used, including for commercial purposes. In college, student-athletes have long been prohibited from making deals to profit from their fame, so they forfeited their NIL rights by signing on with college sports teams. Three years ago, a combination of NCAA rule changes and state laws restored NIL rights to college athletes, and they’ve been making sponsorship deals since.
A combination of school policies and state laws dictates what deals athletes can make. In states without oversight, the NCAA has universities draft policies for their own athletes. Some common school requirements include requiring athletes to get business advice or training before making deals or preventing them from promoting certain products. State laws are primarily focused on preventing NIL deals from being used as recruitment tools. Schools can’t pay students directly, but some states have murky laws.
Student athletes now hire professional agents to make deals.
Most colleges have policies requiring athletes to report details of any potential deals with their schools, and some require school approval before signing. Several schools reserve the right to prohibit their athletes from advertising certain products, such as drugs and alcohol.
Players can enter a transfer tunnel to get the best deals. For example, a basketball team can theoretically get ten new players in the off-season. Some colleges just pick off all the best players.
It will destroy college sports. It is well on its way.
President Trump on NIL:
‘[NIL has] grown into a major challenge that threatens the future of college sports. And really, colleges themselves, because many … are going to go down the tubes. It was announced at Penn State that its athletic division lost $535 million last year. Florida State… [a] $440 million loss. It was just announced that Rutgers lost $95 million, and they’re doing all sorts of things to try to save the ship. And I think those numbers are nothing compared to what’s going to happen. This is new. This just happened. Those numbers are going to go to levels that nobody’s ever seen before.’
How can a college like Rutgers lose $95 million in a year?
at some point mens sports may be shut down…exactly what the donks and women want. 20 years? maybe 10?
NIL is just part of the corrupting fantasy with the concept of ‘celebrity’.
As in Australia where I currently live and work Sport is the number one religion. I people supported true Christian churches with the time and finances they dedicate to sports, we would have a wonderful world full of unselfish love.
I used to love NCAA football, and have been a Washington Husky fan since 1960. But since they instituted the Transfer Portal and NIL, I have stopped watching college football altogether. There is enough greed in professional sports already, we didn’t need it to take over college sports too.