NIL in the news

[Wrestleknownothing]

Everyone's favorite topic.

House Settlement

The deadline to file an appeal of the House Settlement was July 7. Seven appeals have been filed. Three are based on Title IX claims, two are based on the revenue cap, and two are based on the damages distribution.

One of the damage distribution appeals was made by wrestling's own Sebastion Rivera and Ryan Deakin. Go get em boys.

NIL Go Gone and Went After Collectives

The College Sports Commission issued guidance yesterday and what will, and will not, be approved. The took square aim at the collectives.

https://www.collegesportscommission.org/nil/

From their website:

"An entity with a business purpose of providing payments or benefits to student-athletes or institutions, rather than providing goods or services to the general public for profit, does not satisfy the valid business purpose requirement set forth in NCAA Rule 22.1.3.

The requirement is not met even if the particular deal with the student-athlete purports to provide goods or services to the general public. For example, a NIL collective that has a business purpose to pay student-athletes associated with a particular school or schools does not satisfy Rule 22.1.3 when it reaches a deal with a student-athlete to make an appearance on behalf of the collective at an event even if that event is open to the general public and the collective charges an admission fee (e.g., a golf tournament)."

Congress shoots, but do they SCORE?

From The Athletic:

"A bill designed to end ambiguity surrounding name, image and likeness (NIL), establish professional guidelines for agents and protect collegiate leagues from antitrust lawsuits received a strong endorsement from a bipartisan group of nine congressional representatives Thursday.

The Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act, which was introduced in the Energy and Commerce subcommittee, prevents athletes from obtaining employee status. But in many ways, the act is the first step in establishing a bill of rights for athletes."

The article goes on to say the goal of the legislation is to make all the various state laws moot by replacing them with a single federal regulation. It seems like this would also trump the House Settlement if passed.

[MPhillips]

14 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

But in many ways, the act is the first step in establishing a bill of rights for athletes."

Thanks...

Interesting.

[Wrestleknownothing]

10 minutes ago, MPhillips said:

Thanks...

Interesting.

can't believe I misspelled Sebastian

[MPhillips]

5 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

can't believe I misspelled Sebastian

Ionel didn't see it so it doesn't count...

[ionel]

2 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

can't believe I misspelled Sebastian

If only you'd pay your interns a living wage.  

 

Also you should probably go thru concussion protocol.  

Edited July 11 by ionel

[ionel]

2 hours ago, MPhillips said:

Ionel didn't see it so it doesn't count...

[Wrestleknownothing]

Hold all tickets. Today the Class Counsel took exception to the College Sports Commission's guidance with regard to collectives.

“We urge the CSC to retract the July CSC Memorandum and clarify that the valid business purpose requirement applies to NIL collectives in the same manner as any other entity,” the letter said. “If the CSC does not retract the statement, Class Counsel will have no choice but to pursue relief from the Special Master as the July CSC Memorandum is already causing injury to class members.”

[CHROMEBIRD]

Didn't want to start a whole new thread just for this, so posting here: so yesterday, I'm out running in this ridiculous heat, decide to hit up a corner store for something cold. I spot this drink that says ENERGY, ZERO SUGAR, and BLUEBERRY, and am immediately like, "yeah, that sounds good" without really paying attention to the rest of the can. Only after buying it do I notice the bigass, extremely obvious Nittany Lion and Happy Valley United on the front.

HVU sounded vaguely familiar, like maybe a PSU soccer club or somethign, and I didn't think too much of it at first. But when I got home I looked up the product and found out that it's a PSU NIL drink! HVU is PSU's NIL Collective and proceeds go towards the school's NIL slush fund. Ptoo! Ptoo! Next time, I'm either reading the can like a book or just sticking to water. Lesson painfully learned!!

Edited July 13 by CHROMEBIRD

[CHROMEBIRD]

Something to keep an eye on: the NCAA and power conferences have actively lobbied Congress to codify a federal NIL framework, which brings us to the SCORE Act (HR 4312). The proposed legislation would:

• Prohibit schools from charging mandatory student fees to subsidize athletics programs and NIL (e.g., Cleveland State's $90/yr "save wrestling" tuition fee, Clemson's $150 athletics fee, portions of Fresno State's $495 instructional activities fee; but not "talent fees" and similar add-ons that are tacked onto season ticket sales)
• Require agents to register and carry a license, and caps their compensation at 5% of the athlete's NIL contract
• Require schools to cover all medical expenses for athletic injuries for at least 3 years after they graduate or leave school, and provide academic, career counseling, and financial assistance if they decide to return to college
• Keep the FBS 16 sport minimum (with at least 8 women's sports), applicable to any program with a coach that earns more than $250k/yr
• Block athletes from being classified as employees of the university based on their participation in sports
• Go back to the one-time transfer rule; multiple transfers still be allowed but the athlete would have to sit the season out
• Grant the NCAA, conferences, and programs an antitrust exemption, as long as they comply with the SCORE framework, mitigating further lawsuits based on anticompetitive practices

So, a mix of good and questionable rules. The bill is still making its way through committee (current draft is here, for the legislative masochists) so who knows how it might be amended or modified, but I think expectations for now are that it'll pass the House and be a cointoss in the Senate. 

[AgaveMaria]

How long before TacoBoy, Pope Trump gets involved and really screws it up?

[ionel]

40 minutes ago, AgaveMaria said:

How long before TacoBoy, Pope Trump gets involved and really screws it up?

Isn't it already screwd up? 

[CHROMEBIRD]

The bill isn't really drawn around partisan lines and isn't a high profile piece of legislation (in the sense that it sparks engagement or sensationalism), so I wouldn't expect Trump to be interested enough to chime in either way. It has support and opposition on both sides, and narrowly made it out of subcommittee by one vote. The bill would essentially have a 60 vote hurdle in the Senate, if it makes it that far. OTOH, there's probably broad agreement and urgency in Congress for a standardized national framework, so there's that. 

The minimum sport requirement and antitrust waiver will probably help keep wrestling around. It'll still suck to be a non-P4 D1 program, but that's been well-hashed and rehashed in all the House Settlement discussions.

[Jason Bryant]

For those interested, I put some of the more notable NIL things (dropped programs, Title IX lawsuits, etc.) in a section in my (mostly) Daily Wrestling Newsletter. It’s free, sign up at: https://mattalkonline.substack.com

For those unfamiliar, I scour the web for news from around the world, linking to them and saving wrestling junkies hours of time searching for news (but likely taking up more time by reading)

[fishbane]

Recently saw the PSU football season ticket prices.  I was surprised to see a "mandatory contribution" for almost all season ticket prices that represents 20-50% of the total price. Is this standard practice in college football? 

My instinct is to think this is either a tactic to get fans to pay a higher price by making 20-50% of the purchase price tax deductible or it's an attempt to artificially move gameday ticket revenue to donations.  It is my understanding that under the house settlement ticket revenue is included in the revenue share, but not donations.