Getty Image / Michael Allio
The rights of college athletes to make money off of their name, image, and likeness (NIL) has upended college sports since it was made legal in 2021. Nearly every facet of big-time college athletics is touched in some way by NIL.
Previously, institutions were supposed to keep some distance when it came to players negotiating NIL deals. They were not supposed to be helping players find and negotiate deals with outside money.
But, some states started to buck the NCAA on this, and allowed their schools to help negotiate on behalf of their student-athletes. The underlying narrative here is that for most power 5 college athletes, the bulk of their NIL earnings are coming in the form of payouts from NIL collectives. The collectives are groups that are fundraising for athletes from a specific school or program. In many cases, it’s practically an extension of the athletic department or program, kept just far enough away to not break NCAA rules.
But, on Wednesday, the NCAA released new guidance that will allow schools to help facilitate NIL deals for the student-athletes.
Moving forward, schools can:
-Identify NIL opportunities and facilitate deals between student-athletes and third parties
-Provide a reasonable grace period to student-athletes who do not report NIL information within 30 days— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) April 17, 2024
This, essentially, is going to allow schools to work directly with those collectives to raise and disperse money to players. Since pay-to-play is technically still illegal, the school will be able to help set up events and appearances that players can get compensated for showing up to.
Plus, they can help give players guidance on finding corporate sponsorships, as well. A lot of the agents working in the NIL space aren’t the most ethical, so having the schools being able to help with some of this stuff is good.