NIL Language

Yep these guys are getting paid standard commercial deals and such for NIL…..amounts may be inflated due to “reasons” but I don’t think you can put any transfer, playing time, or performance restrictions or incentives in the deals.

So, could someone structure a deal for say "the starting quarteback at X University"? If you're the back up, you get nothing. If the starter goes down and you go in, then you get the endorsement deal. Conversely, if you're the starter and get beat out, you lose your NIL money. Same could be written for any and all positions that way in theory.

If these “sponsors” are smart they’re offering deals that are semester-to-semester or at least year-to-year.

Sounds like aTm’s collective was offering lump sum NIL deals to guys for their entire collegiate career.

I say this because the collective says they’re going to enforce the contracts to get the players to come back and uphold their part of the contracts even if they transfer.

NIL especially through collectives is a lot more like pay for play than NIL.

quote:

---

Yep these guys are getting paid standard commercial deals and such for NIL…..amounts may be inflated due to “reasons” but I don’t think you can put any transfer, playing time, or performance restrictions or incentives in the deals.

---

Exactly. It’s crazy how many people still do not know what NIL is…. That said, if I was the employer, I’d certainly have a time commitment (still have to be around) and would pay incrementally with a bonus at the end of the commitment

quote:

---

Most probably don’t know this, but it’s against the NCAA rules for the NIL deal to be contingent upon an athlete’s enrollment at a certain school or for certain athletic performance. Basically can’t be structured as pay-for-play.

---

This is true, but it is easily by-passed with other, allowable language.


NCAA by-law regarding NIL
An NIL agreement between a SA and a booster/NIL entity may not be guaranteed or promised contingent on initial or continuing enrollment at a particular institution.

This is an easy work around if you word the contract to state the athlete must live in a specific geographical location, or that the athlete must meet with the benefactor weekly during the season at a specific location or they void the contract.

NCAA by-law regarding performance
NIL agreements must be based on an independent, case-by-case analysis of the value that each athlete brings to an NIL agreement as opposed to providing compensation or incentives for enrollment decisions (e.g., signing a letter of intent or transferring), athletic performance (e.g., points scored, minutes played, winning a contest), achievement (e.g., starting position, award winner) or membership on a team (e.g., being on roster).

This is more difficult, but the key word is value. It is vague enough to be practically unenforceable.

And after all of that, the most important point to consider is that while an athlete must disclose an NIL deal to the school, they do NOT have to provide a copy of the contract or disclose the terms.

So basically the NCAA says what can NOT be in an NIL contract but state law has made it impossible for them to access the details of an NIL contract making their rules unenforceable.

quote:

---

I think the athlete’s biggest concern isn’t the NCAA, it’s the IRS

---

I think the biggest concern here that no one is focusing on is that they are now able to hire an agent. That W-2 hits hard, but not as hard as the repercussions of hiring Uncle Pookie across the way as his agent who now has signing privilege's on the new Chase account.