NIL Shenanigans
- Thread starter NENick
- Start date
I remember in the past there was always a worry about basketball players being eligible for the spring semester after fall grades came out. It's not even a thought any more.
I had a HS friend that went to ISU the same time we had issues on the MBB team with eligibility with guys like Pratt and Bankhead. He had a class with Cato and he was asked to read out loud in class one day and he apparently really struggled to read a complete sentence. Remember Andy Katzenmoyer who played LB at Ohio State in the late 90's? He to take some cushy summer classes 1 time just to stay eligible and they were some joke classes on top of that where even university professors were saying it was turning their academics into a joke: https://vault.si.com/vault/1999/06/...ate-kept-linebacker-andy-katzenmoyer-eligible
I had a friend who was a starting backer when I was in school and he said he got 3 PE credits for being on the football team.
As if any of this has to do with actual appearances or value.
In my opinion NIL people need to start signing deals that say player A needs to be enrolled and fulfill his obligation to the university from August first until the end of the football season. If so player A will be entitled to compensation on a monthly payment schedule. If that contract is broke it will become null and void. Right now it’s just money men telling recruits they will get so much and either not having to pay like Florida state or the player not holding up his end if the bargain. If the NCAA had any guts they would figure out some damn rules to NIL and institute them for all schools to follow. But they don’t. They only want to punish kids and fan bases
- Mar 27, 2006
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The existing professional unions were formed in totally different time periods and with totally different circumstances, not to mention before specific right to work laws were in place in certain states.
Agree.
The dynamics are similarly conducive to union formation as when the NFLPA and MLBPA formed
Particularly in college football in which big rosters and short careers means each individual player has little leverage. College football is very much a next man in sport. As we know, you can go 11-2 with walk on LBs from Iowa.
Once the market removes the profit-wasting prisoners dilemma in which schools and conferences engage in an arms race spending, players will need to unionize and get a CBA imo
And there’s never been a better time for the interests of the leadership of big business to get what they want in terms of regulation or laws
Hopefully he’s being well compensated. That cannot be an easy job.
Was that the same thread that showed the Iowa NIL collective being $825k in the red?
- Mar 27, 2006
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- 33,751
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Are they? When the NFLPA was formed, it was at a time when ownership had all of the power. The players advocated for base pay and healthcare coverage. In the current environment with college sports, the players already have much more power, and are already receiving many of the "basic" needs. And the general attitude of the country towards unions, as well as the power of unions in general, was much much higher in the 50's than it is now. Throw in that college sports are a temporary step on the path to the bigger leagues for the best players, and many of the benefits of union membership lose some importance, at least for the best players.
The formation of a college players union is not a slam dunk by any means. When people are making some of their suggestions for changes to college sports, they're just assuming that one will be formed, and there's no guarantee at all that one will come into being, right now.
There is no power in a players union currently because there is no one entity that they can collectively bargain towards. Courts have been clear that the NCAA governs the rules of their sports but those do not extend to control of the players or their earnings. Until the NCAA has an antitrust exemption to govern all aspects of participation in college athletics, or an exemption maybe limited to a sport like CFB, any player's union has no one to bargain with or enforce any agreements made.
There will be player unions and CBA's someday. Not there yet.
What is the old saying, there are the only 2 sure things in life- death and taxes.
So I would agree there are no guarantees, but is it likely? Is it 50/50? It's anybody's guess. But there are some societal trends that would say it will happen. We see workers at Amazon and Starbucks walking out and talking about unionizing.
From a legal standpoint, the potential is higher than ever. We have the House Case. We have the court rulings related to Dartmouth hoops that are still working their way through the courts related to employee status and back compensation. We saw the recent Pavia case giving him an extra year of eligibility because the current rules related to JUCO athletes restricted Pavia's ability to earn NIL $.
IMO the NCAA has lost any governance power over the schools and athletes, so some structure needs to replace the vacuum. Is it employee status w/o unions, employee status w/ unions or does a Conference-by-Conference governance approach create rules that hold up to court cases. And if things move too far from the current student-athlete model, do colleges view college athletics is no longer part of its core mission? And create long-term financial liabilities they want no part of.
Interesting news that the Dartmouth basketball players dropped their effort to unionize because they perceive a Trump NLRB will be unfavorable to their legal case. Maybe Janny knows what he's talking about. 
Dartmouth Hoops Drops Effort to Unionize
Dartmouth Hoops Drops Effort to Unionize
Pretty interesting ruling that Title IX rules will apply to the $20M revenue sharing monies. So it doesn't look like schools will be able to pay FB players 80% of that money.
Title IX Applies to Revenue Split
Quick Summary
Not sure what to think of bullet #2. Does it mean Athletic Departments have to make sure they are equal in sport facilities & training/development, but NIL $ from Collectives can be unequal since those are personal monies?
Title IX Applies to Revenue Split
Quick Summary
- School direct payments of $20.5M in NIL deals would fall under Title IX rules.
- The Dept of Educ statement was less clear on NIL payments from Collectives. Here is quote from above article: It states that the department does not consider money provided by a third party in an NIL deal as athletic financial assistance like the future revenue sharing payments or scholarship dollars. But if money from private sources ends up creating a disparity in an athletic program, it is possible that NIL agreements could "trigger a school's Title IX obligations."
Not sure what to think of bullet #2. Does it mean Athletic Departments have to make sure they are equal in sport facilities & training/development, but NIL $ from Collectives can be unequal since those are personal monies?
So, if this had to be split evenly this would result in a payment of ~ $36,000 to every athlete at Iowa State. Feels a bit unfair as a golf player makes very little money for the department.
Its not necessarily a ruling, but a memo by current admin. Very well could be viewed differently in a few days under a new administration.
That said, just asinine to apply Title IX to this. Drive revenue, get paid. Let the schools determine how that works and should be distributed for their situations. Simple as that.
