NCAA Proposes Rule to allow Schools to enter into NIL deals with Athletes

[zeek55]

NCAA pitch: Let D-I schools pay athletes via NIL

NCAA president Charlie Baker has proposed rule changes that would allow Division I schools to enter into NIL deals directly with their athletes and create a trust fund at the richest tier of athletic departments.

www.espn.com

Obviously there's a long ways to go before this goes from proposal to passed rule, but this is where the conference distributions will matter a ton in terms of recruiting/keeping talent, and it's where Big Ten/SEC schools can separate from the rest with school made NIL deals.

Also, I don't know that this is the right approach; I'd prefer conference led NIL situations because that's an equal pot of money for the conference schools.

Individual schools have vastly different athletics budgets (different # of athletes, different stadium sizes/revenue, etc.), so conference level always made more sense to me because conference distributions are near equal per school.

 

[Go Catz]

If a new division is created, do we get left out?

 

[FeralFelidae]

If schools start paying athletes for NIL, should boosters still be allowed to pay them, too?

I'd love to get direct payments from boosters out of the equation.

 

[zeek55]

If a new division is created, do we get left out?

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Naw, we'll be where the Big Ten schools are.

We'd give millions from conference distributions to athletes.

 

[NCRNU71]

If schools start paying athletes for NIL, should boosters still be allowed to pay them, too?

I'd love to get direct payments from boosters out of the equation.

Isn't getting outside compensation exactly what the NIL is all about? As I understand it, the issue was that NCAA banned student-athletes from getting paid for outside jobs, endorsements, or other sources, and NIL now allows them to get paid for almost anything. Even with direct payments from the Universities, there would still be no limits on what outside sources could pay.

 

[FeralFelidae]

Isn't getting outside compensation exactly what the NIL is all about? As I understand it, the issue was that NCAA banned student-athletes from getting paid for outside jobs, endorsements, or other sources, and NIL now allows them to get paid for almost anything. Even with direct payments from the Universities, there would still be no limits on what outside sources could pay.

I'm of the opinion that professional players should be in professional leagues and there should be a level playing field for competition at academic institutions. But at least if payments come directly from the schools, they will be subject to Title IX restrictions and will have to share the wealth with the ladies.

 

[jne381]

I'm of the opinion that professional players should be in professional leagues and there should be a level playing field for competition at academic institutions. But at least if payments come directly from the schools, they will be subject to Title IX restrictions and will have to share the wealth with the ladies.

I agree with you on the opinion that professional athletes should be in Pro leagues.

In any case, the Title IX implication is always going to be the biggest problem. Congress will eventually need to get involved to either provide a Title IX exception to FB and BB, or get money out of college FB and BB all together.

 

[Sheffielder]

Naw, we'll be where the Big Ten schools are.

We'd give millions from conference distributions to athletes.

I'm less confident than I was 3-6 months ago about how our status as a Big Ten founder keeps our access to the honey pot safe.

The NFL is the gold-standard model on how a sports league makes an ungodly amount of money. As this continues to evolve, it seems more than less likely that the Ohio States, Alabamas, and no more than ~30 other programs find themselves at a table together with no room for anything else.

If I'm right, this also means there's no room for Iowa, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, and plenty of other programs that can still attract fans and tv deals...so all is not lost.

Need to be willing to rethink the whole model. It could be that 30-40 programs become "Division I" and we become "Division II" with lower revenue guidelines. I'd be fine with that.

 

[zeek55]

I'm less confident than I was 3-6 months ago about how our status as a Big Ten founder keeps our access to the honey pot safe.

The NFL is the gold-standard model on how a sports league makes an ungodly amount of money. As this continues to evolve, it seems more than less likely that the Ohio States, Alabamas, and no more than ~30 other programs find themselves at a table together with no room for anything else.

If I'm right, this also means there's no room for Iowa, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, and plenty of other programs that can still attract fans and tv deals...so all is not lost.

Need to be willing to rethink the whole model. It could be that 30-40 programs become "Division I" and we become "Division II" with lower revenue guidelines. I'd be fine with that.

Here's the thing, the biggest schools can't be going 6-6 and having 80k+ in their stadiums. A lot of Penn State fans are not happy enough with 10-2 every year; what happens when that's 7-5 or 6-6? Maybe Nebraska is the only program in the country that can have a run as bad as they've had and not imploded in terms of attendance and the rest.

I don't think the biggest schools want a 20-30 team breakoff because right now they basically get everything (undefeated or near undefeated seasons) while giving some other schools money.

It's why I think the Big Ten/SEC are a pretty efficient estimation of the AFC/NFC or NFL approach. They keep enough large state schools that can take losses while the biggest brands can go 10+ wins and make the CFP.

But like you said, I think we'll be fine either way. We'll be with Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota, etc., so should we really be worried?

If that's in the Big Ten with Michigan/Ohio State/etc. That's great. If that's in a 2nd tier FBS that's fine too.

It's why investing $1.3 billion in facilities was so important, get all that out of the way before things change because at least we'll have all that done.