Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Did the NCAA just get handed the lifeline that it needs to actually stay afloat and enforce rules in the NIL era, thanks to a neutral arbitrator? It certainly appears that way.
Earlier this year, a group of 18 Nebraska football players challenged a ruling by the College Sports Committee that rejected over $1 of NIL deals. They took the case to arbitration.
The committee, which some have deemed a “snitch hotline” for college football, is meant to assess the legitimacy of NIL deals.
The only problem for those 18 Nebraska football players is what happened next: they lost.
While it seems like the NCAA hasn’t been on the winning side of many court rulings of late (perhaps because it hasn’t), they were in this instance, and it might be vitally important to the future of college sports.
NCAA Picks Up Big Win In Court For Its College Sports Committee
“Today’s decision shows the arbitration system works,” the committee’s CEO, Bryan Seeley, told a group of media members, coaches, and athletic directors shortly after the ruling.
“It feels validating to have an arbitrator agree with your decision,” continued. “I think we have hopefully instilled some faith in this system.”
Now, the CSC and NCAA are not entirely out of the woods. Additional arbitration hearings are already in the works from Georgia and one other unnamed school, while even more are pursuing the option, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.
But what it does do is put at least some judicial weight behind the NCAA’s oversight of NIL deals.
As Dellenger points out, schools are in a situation where they created a system that they are not trying to work against in pursuit of winning. That puts them on relatively weak legal grounds.
It’s entirely possible that the next big court case blows everything up again. But for now, it appears the NCAA might actually be on the front foot for once.