One year into NIL era, fresh questions about its future | College

What was supposed to be a way for college athletes to make some pocket money based on celebrities is bidding for top new hires and transferees who can issue millions of orders for their services. It turned into a war. State law has been passed or overturned, and in some cases is funded by well-funded donors and graduates who participated in the recruitment war.

The current enthusiasm raises serious concerns about the balance between recruitment practices and competitiveness, followed by questions about where NIL’s rewards (name, image, portrait) go from here. Is Congress involved? Does the school play a major role?

“They are trying to beat themselves to the ground, just as this money situation is exploding at school,” said Michael Leroy, a professor of labor law at the University of Illinois. “Under these rules, not everyone can win.”

Some say that there are no rules, or that the rules and state laws set by the NCAA are toothless and are treated like suggestions.

“Seeing Nick Saban lose his composure in hiring, it’s clear that NCAA’s highest level of athletics has been hurt,” Texas A & M said.

The NCAA’s interim NIL policy states that there are no rewards or incentives to hire for play and that athletes must provide services in exchange for rewards. When the school itself breaks out of the loop of trading, so-called booster groups are born, offering opportunities to earn, and critics say they seek temptation.

Basketball player Nijel Pack made one of the first big splashes in April. When his transfer from Kansas to Miami was announced, it was announced that he would get a two-year $ 800,000 deal with the medical technology company that brought the car. The pack has already been featured in the ad.

There are media reports that new football and basketball hires and transfers are promised millions of dollars in NIL transactions, but all violate the rules because they haven’t registered.

In May, the NCAA Division I Governor’s Committee warned that executive staff would investigate and take action on the most “exorbitant violations.” Schools will be punished for improper behavior of boosters.

Dion Nucoller, a professor and director of the Center for Sport Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said he was not surprised at how NIL was deployed. According to her, the market had reached the boiling point.

“This is what’s happening because we’re out of the bottle now,” she said.

Due to the lack of parliamentary action to resolve the NIL issue, some wonder if athletes will be declared employees of the school and address the NIL issue through collective bargaining.

Proponents strengthen their position with a memorandum of last fall from Jennifer Abruzzo, a corporate lawyer for the National Labor Relations Commission, who wrote that college athletes would fit the definition of “employee” under federal labor law. Say it will be done.

Mr. Coller said he agrees that there is a strong legal basis for calling athlete employees.

“I’m still in standby mode because this can be changed by law, regardless of whether we’ve actually reached the stage of collective bargaining,” she said. “The NLR Act can be amended to say that college athletes cannot be considered employees. Whether Congress does so is a political issue and we keep in mind. It’s something you have to do. “

What prevents LeRoy from adopting collective bargaining by public schools and passing industry-specific collective bargaining legislation, as it did on railroads in 1926 and on airlines in 1936? He said there wasn’t.

Mark Edelman, a law professor at Baruch College in New York, said Abruzzo’s memo set the stage for unionization. The NCAA has long opposed the union for losing its antitrust proceedings. The new constitution has also revealed that schools cannot pay athletes to play sports.

The decision is whether to include only revenue-generating sports athletes. Title IX also has implications for how the interests of men and women are treated.

Le Roy, who wrote the 2014 book Collective Bargaining in Sports and Entertainment: Professional Skills and Business Strategy, helps athletes make NIL money while maintaining competitive balance similarities. He said that this should be a driving force for collective bargaining.

Without it, 5-10 of the wealthiest programs would sign elite, money-motivated new hires and further separate them from other programs, Le Roy said.

“If the rule system doesn’t have some competitive balance, the league won’t win,” he said. “Rule 1 of the league has anti-competitive rules to be competitive, which means that the labor market must be restricted in order to spread talent and make the league interesting from a fan’s point of view.

“The way this is evolving rapidly will highlight the difference between what you have and what you don’t. Personally, with this current system, 65 PowerFive teams are in the same group. there is no.”

This topic is one of many topics being discussed as the three NCAA divisions rebuild themselves, and the process gained momentum last year.

LeRoy envisions meetings as “employers” or “managers” in collective bargaining, and the main areas of negotiation are revenue sharing, salary caps, and creative ways to deal with NIL. He suggested several possibilities. A backloaded NIL contract that requires athletes to stay in school for three or four years before collecting money, or setting an annual limit on NIL revenue per team.

Tom McMillen, President and CEO of the LEAD1 Association, representing leading athletic directors, proposes a less radical approach. He said the athletic club should supervise NIL activities to ensure compliance.

McMillen said the expansion of group licenses involving schools and all athletes would result in a more equitable distribution of NIL funds. Federal-sponsored schools must comply with Title IX, so male and female athletes have an equal opportunity to receive cash.

“The athletic club has already arranged internships, jobs and tutors. They play a big role in the lives of these children,” McMillen said. “You can have a children-focused licensing department run by the athletic club. It will be compliant and done in the right way.”

Another option, according to McMillen, is not the collective bargaining outlined in federal law, but to a union where Congress sets up a new social contract for basketball and soccer players that may involve some form of negotiation. Is a compromise.

“Our AD is very concerned that 97% will work hard on professional models,” he said. For a few dollars, student athletes will need more chances to earn. “