Today the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA illegally restricted education-based benefits that could compensate student-athletes under antitrust law. The education-based benefits include things like technology, study abroad programs, and - especially intriguing for the Northwestern football team - internships. It seems to me that this particular ruling stands to uniquely benefit Northwestern, more so than many other schools.
The internship piece is interesting. I think that the NCAA articulated reasonable concerns:
But the Supreme Court thought otherwise, telling the NCAA that it was still acting monopolistically as it retained the discretion to police for excessive benefits:
Good luck to Nebraska spelling out how that $100,000/year internship (Lambo included) at John Deere of Lincoln is "legitimately related to education." On the other hand, Northwestern's proximity to Chicago vastly increases the available pool of internships (an Aon or Booz Allen Hamilton internship is worth a lot more than a marketing internship at a tractor outfit in Lincoln). You might not see a Lambo, but good luck to the NCAA if they dare attempt to limit such a paid internship on the basis that it is not legitimately related to education - especially given the long established relationships of Aon, Booz Allen, and companies like them in the (non-athlete) recruitment of Northwestern graduates. And where Northwestern needs to place athletes in internships with firms that do not have a preexisting relationship with the school, the name brand and prestige associated with Northwestern academically likely makes it more palatable to establish such a new relationship - and more difficult for the NCAA to challenge given that the Supreme Court has just slapped them down as an old-school, Standard Oil-type monopolist. Most importantly, though - from the standpoints of marketing the football program and establishing the well-precedented academic internship relationship for Northwestern "student athletes" - is that Pat Fitzgerald over the past fifteen years has institutionalized possibly the greatest division I football team initiative to land football players internships. These relationships are now deep, easily marketable, and - for the first time - apparently fundable.
The market value payable to a Northwestern athlete could reasonably be higher than that for athletes at competitor schools. You might foresee arguments that the fair value for a Northwestern intern working at a Chicago firm exceeds the reasonable amount that should be paid to other students from most other Big Ten schools in smaller market cities. That checks a box for a student athlete looking to get paid, legitimately, in college. It is plausible that this could play out in a market context during recruitment, where at some point it might become allowable for a Northwestern recruiter to tell an athlete that they could make $50,000 per year while a student by interning at Aon or Booz Allen in downtown Chicago and then have a locked in contract upon graduating (perhaps as a fallback opportunity if the NFL doesn't work out). Such opportunities would be more of a stretch to argue for in East Lansing or Iowa City.
The NCAA rules preventing individual athletes from benefiting from their name, image and likeness on the other hand probably will not benefit Northwestern as much as Michigan or Ohio State, or even Nebraska (where Adrian Martinez's market value of selling Ford trucks on behalf of local dealerships is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and likely millions, despite Nebraska losing more games than it wins), though proximity to the Chicago market and Kellogg branding prowess will likely provide unique selling points to NU recruiters. A few savvy Kellogg professors working with the football team could probably leverage the ability to market "NIL" to actually develop and grow the brand of Northwestern football, in turn increasing the NIL value to future NU recruits.
It would be a good day for Northwestern if it can tell a recruit that he has a $50,000 internship locked in at Booz Allen (or another company founded by a Northwestern alum) and Michigan State can only offer a $10,000 multi-level marketing scheme/internship at AmWay. Today's Supreme Court ruling seems as though we might well be heading in that direction.
The internship piece is interesting. I think that the NCAA articulated reasonable concerns:
First, the NCAA worries about the district court’s inclusion of paid posteligibility internships among the education-related benefits it approved. The NCAA fears that schools will use internships as a way of circumventing limits on payments that student-athletes may receive for athletic performance. The NCAA even imagines that boosters might promise posteligibility internships “at a sneaker company or auto dealership” with extravagant salaries as a “thinly disguised vehicle” for paying professional-level salaries.
But the Supreme Court thought otherwise, telling the NCAA that it was still acting monopolistically as it retained the discretion to police for excessive benefits:
Even when it comes to internships offered by conferences and schools, the district court left the NCAA considerable flexibility. The court refused to enjoin NCAA rules prohibiting its members from providing compensation or benefits unrelated to legitimate educational activities—thus leaving the league room to police phony internships. . . . Under the current decree, the NCAA is free to forbid in-kind benefits unrelated to a student’s actual education; nothing stops it from enforcing a “no Lamborghini” rule. And, again, the district court invited the NCAA to specify and later enforce rules delineating which benefits it considers legitimately related to education. To the extent the NCAA believes meaningful ambiguity really exists about the scope of its authority— regarding internships, academic awards, in-kind benefits, or anything else—it has been free to seek clarification from the district court since the court issued its injunction three years ago. The NCAA remains free to do so today. To date, the NCAA has sought clarification only once—about the precise amount at which it can cap academic awards—and the question was quickly resolved.
Good luck to Nebraska spelling out how that $100,000/year internship (Lambo included) at John Deere of Lincoln is "legitimately related to education." On the other hand, Northwestern's proximity to Chicago vastly increases the available pool of internships (an Aon or Booz Allen Hamilton internship is worth a lot more than a marketing internship at a tractor outfit in Lincoln). You might not see a Lambo, but good luck to the NCAA if they dare attempt to limit such a paid internship on the basis that it is not legitimately related to education - especially given the long established relationships of Aon, Booz Allen, and companies like them in the (non-athlete) recruitment of Northwestern graduates. And where Northwestern needs to place athletes in internships with firms that do not have a preexisting relationship with the school, the name brand and prestige associated with Northwestern academically likely makes it more palatable to establish such a new relationship - and more difficult for the NCAA to challenge given that the Supreme Court has just slapped them down as an old-school, Standard Oil-type monopolist. Most importantly, though - from the standpoints of marketing the football program and establishing the well-precedented academic internship relationship for Northwestern "student athletes" - is that Pat Fitzgerald over the past fifteen years has institutionalized possibly the greatest division I football team initiative to land football players internships. These relationships are now deep, easily marketable, and - for the first time - apparently fundable.
The market value payable to a Northwestern athlete could reasonably be higher than that for athletes at competitor schools. You might foresee arguments that the fair value for a Northwestern intern working at a Chicago firm exceeds the reasonable amount that should be paid to other students from most other Big Ten schools in smaller market cities. That checks a box for a student athlete looking to get paid, legitimately, in college. It is plausible that this could play out in a market context during recruitment, where at some point it might become allowable for a Northwestern recruiter to tell an athlete that they could make $50,000 per year while a student by interning at Aon or Booz Allen in downtown Chicago and then have a locked in contract upon graduating (perhaps as a fallback opportunity if the NFL doesn't work out). Such opportunities would be more of a stretch to argue for in East Lansing or Iowa City.
The NCAA rules preventing individual athletes from benefiting from their name, image and likeness on the other hand probably will not benefit Northwestern as much as Michigan or Ohio State, or even Nebraska (where Adrian Martinez's market value of selling Ford trucks on behalf of local dealerships is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and likely millions, despite Nebraska losing more games than it wins), though proximity to the Chicago market and Kellogg branding prowess will likely provide unique selling points to NU recruiters. A few savvy Kellogg professors working with the football team could probably leverage the ability to market "NIL" to actually develop and grow the brand of Northwestern football, in turn increasing the NIL value to future NU recruits.
It would be a good day for Northwestern if it can tell a recruit that he has a $50,000 internship locked in at Booz Allen (or another company founded by a Northwestern alum) and Michigan State can only offer a $10,000 multi-level marketing scheme/internship at AmWay. Today's Supreme Court ruling seems as though we might well be heading in that direction.