There are numerous posts about players getting paid, but I'm seeing a lot of confusion on two different subjects. Here is my take:
NIL - started in 2022. To clarify, this was not a result of the Alston SCOTUS case, although some have suggested otherwise. The acronym NIL does not appear anywhere in the Alston opinion. NIL was born from state legislatures passing laws authorizing students to be paid for their Name, Image, and Likeness. Different states passed different legislation with various rules. Eventually, the NCAA capitulated and had to allow players to profit from activities involving their NIL. From this, Collectives were born, which were initially designed to facilitate legitimate NIL activities. They then morphed into groups that collected money from boosters and distributed it to players, often for activities unrelated to NIL. This was the pay-for-play (PFP) aspect of NIL. In my opinion, the PFP aspect is entirely unsustainable. NIL could not be paid to the players by the school. Moreover, the idea that I, a fan, should have to pay the players when my school athletic program makes a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue is absurd.
Revenue Share (RevShare) - This is a result of the House settlement, wherein the NCAA agreed to pay back NIL to players who were not allowed to capitalize on their NIL, but set up a future source of revenue that would come directly from the schools. This was a result of the fact that conferences were signing billion-dollar TV contracts, schools were paying coaches and administrators tens of millions of dollars per year, and schools were taking in hundreds of millions of dollars per year, mainly through CFB. This is the first time schools have been permitted to directly compensate athletes for participating in sports. There is a $20.5 million cap for each school (which will be adjusted in the future), and schools can choose to participate or not. The $20.5 can be distributed as each school decides. It is anticipated that football-leaning schools will allocate approximately $15 million to CFB, with the remainder going mainly to CBB and CWBB. This is a pure pay-for-play arrangement and is allowed by the NCAA.
If an analogy will help, NFL players get a salary - that's RevShare. In the NFL, there is a salary cap, which limits the amount of money each team can spend on acquiring players. NFL players can then negotiate deals that leverage their NIL by engaging in activities such as advertising, social media, and local appearances. The teams have no control over that. Each player determines their value. A STs player (think Keelee) gets local appearances while Mahommes does State Farm Commercials. However, you don't see the team engaging in pay-for-play NIL, to entice a player to come and play for them.
The RevShare will go to players at different tiers. QBs, WRs, and OTs will get more, just like in the NFL. In a given year, one team might dedicate a little more to an OT but have to cut back elsewhere. I have to believe each team will have a Moneyball admin team to help determine how to distribute the RevShare, while the Collectives work their asses off to line up as much legit NIL as they can. On a quick aside, someone the other day said Nico could get more NIL in LA than in Knoxville. I am not sure that is true ... UCLA is in an exclusive area of LA, most LA fans are pro sports fans, and I am not sure 99% of LA citizens could tell you who the UCLA QB is at any given time. Plus, they have to compete with real celebrities. Meanwhile, he would be loved by all in Knoxville.
Some sports will receive nothing except scholarships and other benefits - those are worth a ton, especially for sports that don't generate revenue. Anyone who has ever paid tuition understands that it is a valuable investment. However, they are the labor force for a multi-billion-dollar business. This is why the CFB players get most of the RevShare, and equestrian will get none. For sports like equestrian, scholarships and benefits are likely more than their actual market value.
Something that we haven't heard a lot about is that when schools contract with each player, they can add additional contract provisions. While there will be form contracts, each deal will be different. This means that they might try to include terms such as a deal lasting 2 or 3 years, and that a player can enter the portal but will have to buy out their contract. This may be the way we gain some control over the yearly portal issue. I am now exploring the extent to which both sides can go with the contract.
Cavetas: Teams will try to cheat. There will be litigation. But, absent a CBA, this is an excellent attempt to bring some normalcy to college sports.
NIL - started in 2022. To clarify, this was not a result of the Alston SCOTUS case, although some have suggested otherwise. The acronym NIL does not appear anywhere in the Alston opinion. NIL was born from state legislatures passing laws authorizing students to be paid for their Name, Image, and Likeness. Different states passed different legislation with various rules. Eventually, the NCAA capitulated and had to allow players to profit from activities involving their NIL. From this, Collectives were born, which were initially designed to facilitate legitimate NIL activities. They then morphed into groups that collected money from boosters and distributed it to players, often for activities unrelated to NIL. This was the pay-for-play (PFP) aspect of NIL. In my opinion, the PFP aspect is entirely unsustainable. NIL could not be paid to the players by the school. Moreover, the idea that I, a fan, should have to pay the players when my school athletic program makes a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue is absurd.
Revenue Share (RevShare) - This is a result of the House settlement, wherein the NCAA agreed to pay back NIL to players who were not allowed to capitalize on their NIL, but set up a future source of revenue that would come directly from the schools. This was a result of the fact that conferences were signing billion-dollar TV contracts, schools were paying coaches and administrators tens of millions of dollars per year, and schools were taking in hundreds of millions of dollars per year, mainly through CFB. This is the first time schools have been permitted to directly compensate athletes for participating in sports. There is a $20.5 million cap for each school (which will be adjusted in the future), and schools can choose to participate or not. The $20.5 can be distributed as each school decides. It is anticipated that football-leaning schools will allocate approximately $15 million to CFB, with the remainder going mainly to CBB and CWBB. This is a pure pay-for-play arrangement and is allowed by the NCAA.
If an analogy will help, NFL players get a salary - that's RevShare. In the NFL, there is a salary cap, which limits the amount of money each team can spend on acquiring players. NFL players can then negotiate deals that leverage their NIL by engaging in activities such as advertising, social media, and local appearances. The teams have no control over that. Each player determines their value. A STs player (think Keelee) gets local appearances while Mahommes does State Farm Commercials. However, you don't see the team engaging in pay-for-play NIL, to entice a player to come and play for them.
The RevShare will go to players at different tiers. QBs, WRs, and OTs will get more, just like in the NFL. In a given year, one team might dedicate a little more to an OT but have to cut back elsewhere. I have to believe each team will have a Moneyball admin team to help determine how to distribute the RevShare, while the Collectives work their asses off to line up as much legit NIL as they can. On a quick aside, someone the other day said Nico could get more NIL in LA than in Knoxville. I am not sure that is true ... UCLA is in an exclusive area of LA, most LA fans are pro sports fans, and I am not sure 99% of LA citizens could tell you who the UCLA QB is at any given time. Plus, they have to compete with real celebrities. Meanwhile, he would be loved by all in Knoxville.
Some sports will receive nothing except scholarships and other benefits - those are worth a ton, especially for sports that don't generate revenue. Anyone who has ever paid tuition understands that it is a valuable investment. However, they are the labor force for a multi-billion-dollar business. This is why the CFB players get most of the RevShare, and equestrian will get none. For sports like equestrian, scholarships and benefits are likely more than their actual market value.
Something that we haven't heard a lot about is that when schools contract with each player, they can add additional contract provisions. While there will be form contracts, each deal will be different. This means that they might try to include terms such as a deal lasting 2 or 3 years, and that a player can enter the portal but will have to buy out their contract. This may be the way we gain some control over the yearly portal issue. I am now exploring the extent to which both sides can go with the contract.
Cavetas: Teams will try to cheat. There will be litigation. But, absent a CBA, this is an excellent attempt to bring some normalcy to college sports.
