DU90 wrote:
Thank you lucky! So, does this mean we will have a revenue-sharing situation similar to MLB to fund our payments in the future? I am assuming that will be part of it, and another part will be driven by NIL fundraising contributions.
The big schools win again and the rich get richer and there is no level playing field.
I am far from an expert on the subject, but I'll do my best to explain it in more detail. If anyone more knowledgable than I am can correct anything or add to it please do. Every school will likely operate a little bit differently even when the deal is finalized. Ultimately the settlement will do two things which are related, but not exactly the same. The first is to allow universities to directly pay athletes. The second is to regulate NIL payments, which will continue even with direct payments.
When NIL began it was meant to overturn decades of banning college athletes from doing endorsements or getting money from jersey sales and other outlets even though their name was right on the jersey. NIL payments were supposed to be third-party deals with no involvement from the colleges, athletic departments, or coaches. NIL collectives were set up for pretty much every school that were officially not affiliated with the schools to follow the letter of the law. Of course it pretty much instantly became pay-for-play. Even though any contracts were officially with outside entities, the details were usually worked out behind the scenes by coaches and agents. Allowing direct payments is meant to end this game and bring the payments out into the open.
There will be a maximum amount for these payments allowed. The exact figure is one of many details still being worked out, but 20.5 million per year per school has been mentioned enough times that it likely will be the final number. So it will resemble revenue sharing in professional sports like you said. On the other hand there most likely will not be a collective bargaining agreement with the NCAA, so it won't be exactly the same.
While payments straight from the universities is the part of the settlement getting the most attention, regulating NIL is also an important part. Without regulation it basically turned into whoever raised the most money and pretended it was for endorsements (literally name, image, and likeness) got the best roster. A clearinghouse for NIL payments will be setup and run by an entity outside the NCAA, likely Deloitte. All NIL payments will have to be cleared. There will be no maximum on NIL, but the important part is that it will need to be fair market value and for legitimate NIL. So a booster can no longer make multi-million dollar payments to a high school recruit to sign some autographs that may not even end up happening.
The two goals of the settlement are meant to clean up the shady side of college athletics, but also should level the playing field somewhat. Of course lots of schools won't even approach the 20.5 million dollar maximum, so the bigger athletic departments with more money still win out as you say. The very act of placing a cap (especially one less than many schools bring in) spreads the wealth a bit though.
