You have seen the three letters: NIL.
You’ve heard the buzz these three letters created around college sports, read the headlines about universities suing NCAA on the issue and watched athlete commercials like LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne tumbles while wearing Vuori jogging pants or U.S.C. strategist Caleb Williams drink Dr Pepper.
But what does NIL – “name, image and likeness” – encompass, and why is the line between what is within the rules and what is not so difficult to discern?
Here’s a look at the acronym that changed college sports:
What is NIL? How did we get to this point in college sports?
NIL stands for “name, image and likeness” and has become the universal shorthand for college athletes’ ability to become paid sponsors and monetize their success outside of their school-funded scholarships and benefits. Prior to July 1, 2021, college athletes were not allowed to profit from their name, image and likeness. Since then… a lot has happened.
That summer, in response to pressure from laws passed by state legislatures allowing varying levels of NIL activity, the NCAA created an interim NIL policy: for schools in states with laws in effect, the NIL law The State would guide them; otherwise, schools could set their own policies. The NCAA maintained that NIL opportunities could not be used as a recruiting incentive or payment directly tied to athletic performance (colloquially called payment for play).
However, the introduction of a type of licensed market for player services showed how undervalued most players had been in previous decades. Some A-list stars have landed TV commercials and personal sponsorships, but countless others have struck financial deals with less obvious results for the people or organizations paying them. Quite predictably, the NIL agreement has become a recruiting tool and a de facto pay-for-play device, with fans and donors, rather than the universities themselves, footing the bill for players representing their schools. Nearly three years later, most Division I college football players and basketball players make money, with average transactions in the five-figure range, but many going into six figures and beyond. Additionally, the school plays a major role in an athlete’s earning potential through NIL agreements. But unlike most coaching salaries, NIL deals are private transactions between private citizens and primarily privately funded companies, so few hard numbers exist in public records.
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What is a NIL collective?
Collectives are organizations that raise money from large and small donors with the goal of directing that money to a school’s athletes through NIL agreements. The collectives are not formally associated with the schools or athletic departments themselves, but they exist for the benefit of certain programs, and their names, personnel, and activities make this clear. Some school officials, including athletic directors and coaches, have openly asked fans to donate to specific collectives, and some staff members have even left their positions within the school to take on leadership roles. leadership within the collective corresponding to their program.
Collectives can pay athletes, but for athletes to remain eligible for the NCAA, they must demonstrate that they provided a deliverable service in exchange for payment. This may be through autographs, appearances at donor events, appearances in advertisements, or participation in content that the collective may distribute privately or publicly.
However, according to guidelines released by the NCAA in May 2022, 10 months after NIL activity was first permitted, collectives are banned from recruiting activities in the same way that school promoters have long been banned recruitment activities. Under even newer guidelines, collectives cannot contact prospects about NIL opportunities until after an athlete has signed with the school, and players cannot announce or enter into agreements with collectives until to be enrolled in school.
How collectives and college programs work together
In the early days of NIL, athletic departments could not have formal discussions with collectives, although it was widely believed that informal conversations were taking place. The NCAA has since relaxed these guidelines and lowered the walls between collectives and athletic departments, and coaches and athletic department employees can now promote collectives and help them raise funds. They can have donors give to collectives, but not to specific athletes or sports. Coaches and athletic department staff can sign autographs or assist with fundraising, but cannot donate directly to a collective.
Like much of the NIL world, proving that athletic departments and collectives only discuss what they are allowed to discuss, and not broader roster strategy and player acquisition goals, is difficult, if not impossible.
What is the NCAA’s position on NIL?
One of the NCAA’s first official NIL guidelines, sent to schools in May 2022, indicated that collectives count as boosters and are subject to the same recruiting rules that have long been applied. In short, collectives cannot be involved in recruiting, nor can they entice a recruit to sign with a particular school by promising compensation. This murky line has been the focus of most of the organization’s enforcement efforts in a market that has proven difficult to control.
The NCAA has said for months that it was investigating possible NIL violations, but information about the cases had only recently been made public.
In January, the NCAA Division I Council approved a set of consumer protection rules regarding name, image and likeness. Among them: Athletes will be required to report NIL transactions worth more than $600 to their school, including details of terms, compensation and service providers. (Some state laws already require this.) From the aggregated data, the NCAA will create an anonymized database of this information to get a more accurate picture of the market. How precise the database will be, for example listing an athlete’s sport or position, remains to be determined. The NCAA also plans to create a voluntary registry of NIL service providers and agents, intended to provide a pool of credible options for athletes.
The NCAA is also working on proposals that would allow schools themselves to play a more direct role in NIL negotiations and agreements.
Which NIL activities of schools are currently under investigation and why?
The first program sanctioned by the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions (COI) was Miami women’s basketball, which received one year of probation and recruiting sanctions as part of a resolution negotiated with law enforcement personnel in February 2023. The detailed resolution that Miami coach Katie Meier facilitated prohibited contact between potential transfers Haley and Hanna Cavinder and booster John Ruiz prior to the Cavinders’ commitment to the school.
Last month, Florida State football agreed to sanctions after assistant coach Alex Atkins took a potential transfer to a meeting with a collective during a recruiting visit. THE Seminoles received two years of probation; reductions in scholarships and official visits and limitations on recruiting communication over the next two academic years. Atkins received a two-year show cause order and was suspended for the first three games of the 2024 season. The athlete, identified as Georgia offensive lineman Amarius Mimssubsequently removed his name from the transfer portal.
Florida is currently under investigation for his widely publicized 2022 pursuit of high school quarterback Jaden Rashada, who signed with the Gators after a wild NIL bidding war involving boosters in Florida and Miami. However, Rashada later asked to be released from his letter of intent when a Florida collective reneged on an agreement he had signed. Rashada landed at Arizona State.
In addition, the ongoing NCAA investigation into Tennessee for alleged name, image and likeness violations in several sports was recently revealed to the public via scathing statements from university leaders and a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia challenging the ban of the NCAA to use NIL in recruiting. Investigation reportedly focuses in part on Spyre Sports – a collective unofficially associated with the University of Tennessee — and its recruiting activity, particularly around Volunteers starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who committed to Tennessee in March 2022 within 10 days Athleticism report a Zero contract worth $8.1 million over four years between a five-star recruit and a school’s collective.
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At the heart of all these cases, the line where NIL information becomes a recruitment tool is debated. Where does education about potential NIL opportunities for a prospect end and nurturing begins? And how does the NCAA prove that an athlete was induced into an NIL agreement and did not sign with a school for other reasons?
And after?
The normalization of NIL has spurred record activity in the transfer portal and multiplied the stress coaches face when building a roster from year to year. Coaches lamented the need to constantly re-recruit their players, preventing stars from being lured to schools touting more lucrative NIL opportunities, while trying to sell potential newcomers by relying on your NIL situation. school.
Proposals progressing through the NCAA governance model would allow schools themselves to play a more direct role in NIL negotiations and agreements.
But what everyone agrees on is that the current system is not sustainable.
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(Photo: Isaiah Vazquez / Getty Images)
