New rules that are set to transform the NIL landscape have now officially been signed by the NCAA D1 Board of Directors. The most recent action of the board prohibits schools not only from assuring players of third-party NIL deals, whether verbally or in writing. But it also mandates that all collective or booster contracts contain a clear, direct activation element based on the payment.
These reforms aim to address the widespread practices that have emerged in college sports during the NIL era. Over the last several years, coaches and programs were able to promise recruits and transfers that they would get guaranteed amounts courtesy of collectives, essentially making NIL a potent recruiting tool.
Meanwhile, numerous athletes were entering into contracts, where these athletes were paid huge sums of money without doing any promotion or advertising.
The NCAA is willing to introduce a sense of order and veracity to the system by removing guarantees and requiring all NIL contracts to involve a specific deliverable, e.g., a promotional appearance, social media campaign, or endorsement. NCAA wants to ensure that NIL remains associated with real name, image, and likeness activities instead of being an undercover pay-for-play program.
To athletes, this transition implies that they will have to be more proactive in meeting the requirements of their agreements, and to schools, that it curtails one of the largest recruiting benefits of recent years.
Moreover, due to these steps, transparency in the structure of NIL agreements can be expected by the fans, but the enforcement is in question. Critics already pointed out that the NCAA will struggle to come up with what can be considered an actual activation and compliance across programs in situations where state NIL laws differ.
Nevertheless, the action is an indication that the NCAA wants to reinstate its hold over a system that has quickly become out of control. The college sports world is about to discover whether such changes can make a real difference or merely provide an additional layer of complexity.