As many of you know, I read a lot about the legal side of CFB. Here are some thoughts:
Here is how CFB is supposed to work going forward:
- Each school has about $15 million to pay in RevShare directly to the players. The total limit is $20.5 million, but that is for all sports.
- Each school can work with athletes to generate NIL, but that NIL has to be "real" NIL, and not pay-for-play. If you don't already, you need to know that any NIL over $600 has to be approved by a Clearinghouse that Deloitte runs. Booster NIL in particular will be scrutinized. So schools really can't have a Collective pay a player a couple of million for doing nothing.
So, when it comes to money, there is simply a limit to what a school can offer a player like Cantwell. You have to pay RevShare to 85 players, presumably. Even a highly rated OT can't get paid millions in revenue share without taking money that would be used to sign other players that are needed. I don't claim to know how this works. Maybe $10 million goes to your top 5 players, and everyone else gets the $5 million left.
And, Cantwell can't really generate true NIL at that level. He's an offensive lineman. He's not a hottie like the gymnasts who can drive social media money. He's not a flashy QB who will get State Farm or Dr. Pepper commercials. No one is going to gain a ton of revenue in Miami with a freshman OL that no one knows. So, there can't be a lot of real NIL available to him.
So, how can Miami pay him the amounts we are hearing?
- One thought is that his agent might have said he doesn't think the House Settlement will go through. Or maybe he said that he thinks it will be immediately enjoined and will not go into effect for years to come. Under that train of thought, they may be relying on having unlimited pay-for-play NIL, so they offered him a ton. It might even be a contract contingent on those things happening.
- One thing that isn't getting much discussion is the myriad of state laws prohibiting the NCAA from interfering with the athlete's ability to take as much money in NIL as possible. They may be relying on the fact that they are paid whatever they want and then tell the NCAA they can't do anything to them.
One thing is for sure: Those who said that this was not going to be about money had no idea what they were talking about. Or, Cantwell lied through his teeth about that. No one from Missouri is picking Miami over UGA or Oregon to go to Miami as it is today.
Disappointing day, but CKS will bounce back.
Here is how CFB is supposed to work going forward:
- Each school has about $15 million to pay in RevShare directly to the players. The total limit is $20.5 million, but that is for all sports.
- Each school can work with athletes to generate NIL, but that NIL has to be "real" NIL, and not pay-for-play. If you don't already, you need to know that any NIL over $600 has to be approved by a Clearinghouse that Deloitte runs. Booster NIL in particular will be scrutinized. So schools really can't have a Collective pay a player a couple of million for doing nothing.
So, when it comes to money, there is simply a limit to what a school can offer a player like Cantwell. You have to pay RevShare to 85 players, presumably. Even a highly rated OT can't get paid millions in revenue share without taking money that would be used to sign other players that are needed. I don't claim to know how this works. Maybe $10 million goes to your top 5 players, and everyone else gets the $5 million left.
And, Cantwell can't really generate true NIL at that level. He's an offensive lineman. He's not a hottie like the gymnasts who can drive social media money. He's not a flashy QB who will get State Farm or Dr. Pepper commercials. No one is going to gain a ton of revenue in Miami with a freshman OL that no one knows. So, there can't be a lot of real NIL available to him.
So, how can Miami pay him the amounts we are hearing?
- One thought is that his agent might have said he doesn't think the House Settlement will go through. Or maybe he said that he thinks it will be immediately enjoined and will not go into effect for years to come. Under that train of thought, they may be relying on having unlimited pay-for-play NIL, so they offered him a ton. It might even be a contract contingent on those things happening.
- One thing that isn't getting much discussion is the myriad of state laws prohibiting the NCAA from interfering with the athlete's ability to take as much money in NIL as possible. They may be relying on the fact that they are paid whatever they want and then tell the NCAA they can't do anything to them.
One thing is for sure: Those who said that this was not going to be about money had no idea what they were talking about. Or, Cantwell lied through his teeth about that. No one from Missouri is picking Miami over UGA or Oregon to go to Miami as it is today.
Disappointing day, but CKS will bounce back.
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