US House Representative Mark Walker introduces legislation to force NCAA to allow athletes to retain NIL rights
Try to keep other politics out of this.
I was torn about this bill. On the one hand, I agree with its premise: I believe athletes should retain Name-Image-Likeness (NIL) rights to do things like endorsements.
On the other, I am very uncomfortable with government getting involved in the rules of sports leagues.
However, this bill (now introduced, two pages long, linked here) is a very wise way to bring about change. It takes an area where government is already intervening--tax exemption for amateur sports organizations, which NCAA sports are considered--and disqualifies organizations from the exemption if the organization prevents its athletes from using NIL rights for income.
Thus, it does not attempt to change NCAA rules; it tells the NCAA and its member institutions that they get to pay taxes if they won't let the players profit from their own likenesses.
There might need to be some carve-outs for legitimately small enterprises, but I like this a lot.
You serious? If anything the gap gets bigger every year. That's why players have started to sit out compared to 15-20 years ago. I would be willing to bet players wouldn't sit out anymore if they had already been allowed to make money for themselves.
March 15th, 2019 at 12:20 PM ^
The fact that some teams get away with doing this shit now, already dampens my enjoyment of college sports.
NCAA will have to fight it otherwise its current model is dead. How is this different from letting boosters give money to athletes outright. Anyone can take a picture of an athlete and put it on ebay.
What is wrong with a booster giving money to athletes outright?
If you substitute a few words: “one American giving money outright to another American in exchange for services” then you have just described the U.S. economic system.
If this happens, eventually, every college team will be run by a group of shadow owners who pay the players. Foxsports will own Big Ten, and ESPN will own SEC, and they will throw money behind their teams. Nike, Adidas, UA, will do the same. The payrate and caps will be negotiated (secretly) by those stake holders. At the end, NCAA just get rid of the revenue sports completely, and the university can simply license out their names to CFL(Collegiate Football League) and (CBA) Collegiate Basketball Association.
My problem with this is that boosters can just give a kid a $10,000,000 likeness contract if he signs with Alabama.
What's to stop money laundering this way?
Sorry, didn't see this posted already
If some kid is worth $10M because of a skill he has, why shouldn’t he get paid?
March 14th, 2019 at 10:53 PM ^
It would be immensely impractical for boosters to plop down crazy money for 2-3 years of a HS player. But if that happened, so be it. Who would get hurt?
The boosters children! Think of the poor ROI!
THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!
People on this blog way overstate the Alabama alumni base. Michigan has 10-20 alums that each have more wealth than the entire Alabama alumni base combined.
March 14th, 2019 at 10:39 PM ^
Glad our folks in Washington are addressing the big issues facing our country today.
March 15th, 2019 at 12:56 AM ^
How is this downvoted. Seriously this is what needs to be on lawmakers minds? And dont get me wrong I like it. Id also like to see a law banning cooked cabbage.
"Don't let 'perfect' be the enemy of 'good.'"
There's a left and a right person who said that quote. So either political stripe, "your" homeboy said it.
Take a downvote you SOB.
Everyone should eat more cabbage.
March 15th, 2019 at 10:45 AM ^
This is a topic that touches on labor and education in a billion-dollar market/industry that is largely untouched by Congress or the government. It's not totally out of Congress' purview and the NCAA/amatuer system is probably long overdue for a good look.
March 15th, 2019 at 12:23 PM ^
You don't think they should be able to handle more than one thing at a time? Like the rest of us do.
March 14th, 2019 at 10:49 PM ^
Wonder how much the former players got paid for selling their likeness on those column banner endorsements at Michigan Stadium last fall.
I saw those. I hope they were compensated for that, and if I'm not mistaken I swear I saw current players in the ads too. Didn't Chris Spielman just sue OSU for something like that?
Question: when Michigan licenses Nike to produce #2 jerseys, how do you split the profit between the university, Nike, CWoodson, and whoever on the roster happens to be wearing #2 at the time?
March 15th, 2019 at 10:23 AM ^
Woodson doesn't own the #2 and would have no reason to get paid for UM jerseys with the #2 anymore so than Herman Moore would expect to get paid for whoever is wearing #84 for the Lions in 2019.
Woodson would and should, however, get paid for people buying #2 jerseys with the name Woodson on them.
March 15th, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
Michigan stopped producing #2 jerseys. There might still be some #1s around, but mostly they produce #4 (they already employ a man who prominently wore that jersey) and jerseys for the current year.
They used to produce jerseys with prominent numbers of a given season. I have a #7 jersey from the Henson days. Of course, #7 has been a significant number for other players as well. It pretty much stopped with the Obannon decision.
March 15th, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
Interesting bill that has zero chance to get taken up.
March 15th, 2019 at 11:10 AM ^
This is a good bill and a good stepping off point for a fairer NCAA 'amateur' system. And as the OP notes it doesn't affect the budgets of the athletic departments at all. It just opens up an avenue - one that has been needlessly closed - for players to get compensated for their skills and talent. The NCAA has a seriously antiquated and lofty perception of what constitutes an 'amateur' and it makes them look bad, especially while the executives, commissioners, conferences and TV networks get filthy rich.
I don't mind Congress sticking their nose in a sports league every once in a while, especially the NCAA, which has escaped congressional attention for a while now. It's essentially a system of unpaid labor involving thousands of athletes and billions of dollars. There probably isn't a congressional district in the U.S. that doesn't have a university and college athletes (maybe some tiny urban districts?). I applaud Walker for this and I hope he keeps it up.
March 15th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
Very simple...just like legalization of marijuana and the huge tax revenue that now produces. Washington could not give a rip about the people, but about bringing untaxed money above board. Same here....chasing more money, by bringing under the table exchanges, into a taxable scenario. All the student income will obviously be taxed, unlike the $50 handshakes after games from the boosters, etc....