With the one-year anniversary of name, image and likeness coming Friday, one of its key influencers has a key suggestion: It might be time to allow schools to become involved with helping athletes arrange NIL deals.
“NIL is working largely in a whole lot of places,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told CBS Sports. “Of course, no one writes about those. Everybody’s reporting on the plane crashing. I understand that, but the reality is we need to come up with a strategy to deal with inducements.
“One of those [solutions] might be institutions having more involvement. That’s being discussed, and it needs to be continued to be discussed.”
Even though the NCAA’s bare-bones interim policy, adopted at the onset of NIL, didn’t provide much guidance, it stated “the expectation” is that schools and athletes will not use NIL to compensate for athletic participation. The NCAA also warned about the dangers of an “improper inducement” if the two parties worked together.
Some of that language seems laughable now that NIL has evolved. The combination of NIL and the one-time transfer policy has turned some players into athletic mercenaries auctioning themselves off to the highest bidder.
One high-profile coach told CBS Sports during the NCAA Tournament that recruits routinely begin conversations with, “How much can I get [in NIL benefits]?”
Several states now allow coaches and athletic administration officials to assist in NIL deals. State NIL laws largely supersede NCAA policy, which has led to what some call a competitive advantage as some state laws don’t allow school involvement on NIL deals.
Criticizing the unregulated marketplace, Smith and Ohio State football coach Ryan Day recently told Columbus, Ohio, business leaders it would take $13 million to keep the Buckeyes roster intact in this NIL era.
“That’s another reason why it should be beneficial for schools to have…
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