Getty Image / Ron Jenkins
There’s no doubt that the legalization by the United States Supreme Court of NCAA athletes being able to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness rights has changed college sports. And, while it’s not necessarily the “spirit” of NIL, it has essentially opened high-level college athletics to pay-for-play to top athletes.
On Tuesday, the NCAA released new guidance on how universities and related entities need to use NIL in order to stay within the rules. Take a look.
Here's the full list of clarifications the NCAA sent to its members today for those interested: pic.twitter.com/76PypghJbP
— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) June 27, 2023
What does this mean for how NIL in terms of context of the school you root for? Let’s take a look at some of the provisions.
The biggest one is the NCAA clarifying that their rules supersede state law, and if schools follow state law but break NCAA rules, they could be punished. States such as Texas have enacted laws that are in direct conflict with NCAA regulations on NIL.
Of course, this is very legally dubious, and it’s unlikely the courts would rule in their favor on this. Already, Texas A&M has come out and said they will be following state law, not NCAA rules. States are going to call the NCAA’s bluff on this, I presume.
Contract provisions based on housing locations were also mentioned. It’s always been the case that players couldn’t take NIL deals based on who they played for. But, collectives and entities were getting around this by putting in the contract that the player was required to live in a certain location to receive the money. For instance, collectives trying to get players to play for the University of Florida may have been writing in the contracts that players must reside in Gainesville, Florida in order for the contract to be valid. This will make writing these contracts a little more complicated, but my guess is the lawyers writing them can come up with loopholes much quicker than the NCAA can legislate on those loopholes.
The other big point of clarification is that people the NCAA deem as boosters cannot reach out to recruits about potential NIL compensation contingent on attending the school that said booster supports. This is quite clearly likely to be struck down in court, because it’s an illegal restriction of NIL opportunities. But, if it were to somehow stand, it would change how school-focused collectives do business.
At the end of the day, it’s hard to see how these new regulations will have a lot of teeth. Good try, NCAA.