Virginia schools now allowed to pay "NIL" directly to players
The Virginia legislature just passed a law that allows their schools to enter NIL contracts with players. I expect the NCAA will say that all schools are allowed to pay NIL directly. That's what they did when some states first allowed NIL and others hadn't yet passed laws.
https://twitter.com/DanMurphyESPN/status/1780977241486139866
It is the golden age of being an elite 18 year-old athlete. I am only a few decades and a few different genes away from being able to capitalize on this.
Same here! All I needed were the few genes for strength, size, quickness, balance, hand-eye coordination, and healthy knees.
Cool story bro: got offered a spot on a D3 team after coach saw me playing intramural. Pretty impressive since I'm only 6' 1/4", never practiced and was exposed to massive haters.
Assessing athletic talent is harder than it looks but everyone is a critic.
If I was 7-10" taller and had the same pad level I would have been a hell of an offensive lineman.
I've got the height and sports IQ but literally nothing else.
I thought RGard and Elno were the only non human primates around here. I didn't know you were too
Not so fast. The law still has to be signed by Governor Mercury Hayes.
You almost got me. Mercury Hayes is only their daddy, not their governor.
Obligatory, for the youngins:
EDIT: In hindsight, this was a crucial win just for pride's sake. This game was the first and only time in the history of Michigan Stadium that an opposing team's name was painted in one of the endzones. If we had lost, we would have never heard the end of it.
It also happened to be Lloyd Carr's first game as head coach.
April 18th, 2024 at 10:42 PM ^
It was hot as hell that day. I felt sorry for our players having to wear the dark jerseys.
It WAS hot as hell that day... and I got sunburned... and it wasn't included in the season ticket package, so we had to buy tickets.
April 18th, 2024 at 11:19 PM ^
I was sitting in the corner very close to where Hayes caught that ball and almost left because it was so hot and we were so inept. But I had brought a young nephew, who had never been to The Big House and he was having a blast, so I thankfully stuck it out to entertain him.
Sort of like the finishes of the last three Red Wings games - this is why I don't bet on sports or leave games early.
Does this mean a college or university can go into their "general fund" - or - endowment - to provide a student athlete with an "NIL deal" of some kind?
Let's say I represent "Amazinblu U" - and, I see eleven prospective players I'm interested in - can I say - "If you attend Amazinblu U, I'll provide you with an NIL deal where you appear in posters / print for the upcoming season, and I"ll pay you $1M for your agreement to appear in a photo session for those posters / prints."
Would this be "allowed" under NCAA guidelines / rules?
Yep. To at seems to be true at this point. It's put up or shut up time for ADs all over the country. You can no longer pass off the costs of paying players to donors. The school is gonna have to foot the bill.
"We'll shut up." - Warde
Every time something seems like its going to open a door for us we slam it closed on our dicks. This should be the final money cannon straw that breaks the camels back.
You can no longer pass off the costs of paying players to donors. The school is gonna have to foot the bill.
The school ain’t footing the bill for shit. The cost will be passed on to the consumer. Say hello to even higher ticket prices.
No, it's just put up or shut up time for AD's in Virginia.
Still illegal for universities in Michigan to pay high school players to attend.
The NCAA is almost certainly going to respond to this new state law the same way they responded when a few states passed laws permitting NIL. They'll just open it up to everyone in an attempt to maintain competitive balance.
As I read it we have a conflict:
Illegal in Michigan v. Courts declare ncaa rules prohibiting it unconstitutional.
I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know the answer, but - which prevails?!
April 19th, 2024 at 11:25 AM ^
We can't even get Michigan to come off the donor dollars.
They are still at the infant phase of begging fans to donate and telling players we'll guide you to local businesses once you arrive on campus.
April 19th, 2024 at 12:45 PM ^
You mean Michigan is at the phase that's actually "NIL"?
All these other things are not that...
I think a school can frame it as, "I'll pay you $x to appear at 12-16 school sponsored events a year, consisting of mostly saturdays in the fall plus 1-4 to be scheduled events in the early winter. You will be expected to wear a football uniform at these events or other appropriate school sponsored apparel."
Why this may not be the game changer it appears to be on the surface is that there would be a much harder time exempting this type of payment from Title IX considerations. Meaning, it likely has to be a uniform payment to all athletes, which limits the appeal for football/basketball players.
Do the payments have to be uniform to all players? Spending as it currently is (not talking about directly paying players) isn't even close to uniform (see different facilities between say the football team and women's field hockey for example). And mandating equal payments to everyone is just silly, you wouldn't run a business that way. There's a reason upper management makes way more than say a secretary, etc. So it would stand to reason that the school would have more funds for the teams that bring in money (men's football and basketball) compared to all others that basically lose money.
I would imagine what you're describing would be allowed under NCAA rules or state law (or at least VA law), but most universities have internal controls around what the general fund and endowment may be used for. I don't think many universities in practice would allow endowment funds to be diverted to NIL payments for athletes any more than it could be used for faculty salaries, etc.
I'm going to say most schools probably won't dip into an endowment for this. It would seem ethically dubious to draw from the endowment to give an amount to an individual student any more than the cost of attendance.
Most of the endowments are comprised of restricted funds - money for designated purposes- that can only be spent based on the donors' restrictions. And much of the endowment is already going to student scholarships, so redirecting these funds would come at the cost of supporting the scholarships and thereby making a Michigan education out of reach for many more students.
Yes, there are billions in Michigan's endowment but it is a generational fund, meant to be there for students 200 years from now, not to ensure a national title in a sportsball game. Roughly 5% of the endowment can be used each year to ensure continuous growth. On a endowment per student basis, Michigan's endowment is $300,000 per student (Princeton is $3.8 million per student). If 5% is available from the endowment each year, then Michigan has about $15,000 per year, to support each student. That's not a lot, given the cost of college and diminishing support from the state.
It's clear to me that we need to start a new endowment to pay players. And I want this new endowment to be well endowed.
So . . . perhaps Princeton emerges as a football power once again?
In theory this should be good for us as our pockets are deep. But i can see UM being unwilling to go that route.
Michigan doesn't even like to pay kids with other people's money, let alone their own funds.
Sadly, this is the post of the day.
Michigan state law prohibits schools from paying NIL:
Sec. 3.
A postsecondary educational institution, athletic association, conference, or other group or organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics shall not do either of the following:
- Provide a prospective college athlete who will attend a postsecondary educational institution with compensation in relation to the athlete’s name, image, or likeness rights."
I'm no lawyer, but it seems that we're beyond the point where NIL has any actual relationship to name, image, or likeness -- I'm not sure there's an issue here.
Yes. But that will change soon just as it changed when the first few states passed NIL to start with.
All the people who set up collectives to skim a tiny percentage off the top are going to be very disappointed.
So... As a Virginia resident, I should be able to give straight cash homey, to a player at Michigan!! That's how I choose to interpret it.
I'm officially a bag man!!
You can't directly pay a player for nothing, and it states they are not employees, but the school can pay them for being in marketing videos and other promotional things. It will probably be very heavily monitored since it's a university and not a car dealership, but should be a good thing for ADs and players. Wonder if this means they can get a cut on jersey sales that reference their name?
Make a team poster with everyone in the photo. Pay everyone on the team for appearing on the poster. There's not much to monitor.
This was my first thought. Schools use players in promotional materials already.
I'm waiting for the first school to tell CBS/FOX/NBC that they have to pay the school to have players do those little video clips where they are screaming, flexing, and spinning the football on the way to and from commercial breaks. If there's one thing college's and universities know how to do, it's gather every last penny available.
What a wild ride it has been for the bagmen. They used to be illegal but it was cool to give money directly to the athletes and have access. Then they were legalized and had even more direct influence on the athletes and maybe even profited a little through tax breaks or a small wage. Now they will be asked to fork all their money over to the school and the athletes will be wondering who all these dudes hanging around hoping to meet them are.
There’s not enough money in the entire universe to get a normal recruit to be on a spinning dance podium with purple face.
I meant they won't be able to just pay some 5-Star 500K to show up, or not show up as is the case with some NIL deals. Just more oversight that ensures things are above board as far as what is being paid, what was done, and making sure players actually get paid. Which is another NIL issue that doesn't get covered much.
Build a big stadium with a field in the middle, and see if people will pay crazy prices to the University to get a ticket to watch football being played by these athletes.
RE: Jersey sales, we already do that. The university doesn’t sell the jersey, they only license the apparel companies to use their logos and trademarks and whatnot. There’s actually a lot of people taking their cut of the cost of a jersey. I read somewhere that UofM gets like $3 per shirt in license fees. To find out what the players are making, look at the cost of the generic jersey versus the custom jersey and deduct whatever you think is reasonable to customize a jersey. The players aren’t getting rich off of uniforms. It’s a bit of a canard that the university was getting rich selling Fab 5 stuff while Webber was struggling to buy pizza. Things are a lot better now, but no one is retiring based on jersey sales.
I wonder if other states will follow. This new law is slated to kick in this summer, so it is not like the first state NIL bills that were delayed for several years and were meant to give the NCAA some time to update rules. This is a shot across the bow at the NCAA.
University of Virginia helped push for this legislation, so they could be making a splash this summer.
Once the universities can funnel TV revenue more or less directly to players as NIL, the need for soliciting small donations for NIL collectives should wane.
It would be great to see the Michigan legislature follow the Virginia example. Any legislators read this blog?
You think the schools desire for money from fans and donors is going to wane because of this? Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. That is not how it works. The schools already had a money bilking machine, now they have a reason/justification to turn it up to 11!
Before collectives existed, schools could just go around and raise money for their departments. Once collectives became a thing, it became very difficult for schools to navigate fundraising because they wanted the same number of dollars for the athletic department but also needed donors to give to the collectives. If NIL can go directly back to the athletic department's budget, they will cease working with the collectives, or just absorb them. The messaging will be simple again: Give us all your money.
Exactly, but now the school can double the guilt! Donate so we can sign the best athletes and build an even bigger scoreboard!
In theory, isn't the NCAA removing all Virginia schools from the association a possible outcome? The state might be able to sue the NCAA for imposing penalties, but surely the state cannot force the NCAA to accept schools as members.
A moot point, I'm sure, as the NCAA would never do that.
Where’s the threat? Please remove us from the NCAA.
No NCAA championship tournaments would seem to be the biggest loss. Of course FBS football does not have an NCAA championship tournament, so it would only be for other sports.