The College Sports Commission reported Thursday that more than 8,000 name, image and likeness deals, valued at nearly $80 million, between third-party businesses and student-athletes have been cleared since mid-June, compared to 332 that have been submitted but not approved.
The College Sports Commission reported Thursday that more than 8,000 name, image and likeness deals, valued at nearly $80 million, have been cleared since mid-June, but a group representing dozens of NIL collectives claims millions more dollars are being held up by the slow process.
The CSC said 332 deals between college athletes and third-party businesses have been submitted to the NIL Go online platform and rejected from June 11 through Aug. 31. More than 3,000 deals were cleared in the final 11 days of August alone, the CSC said.
The Collective Association, a trade group for the donor-funded businesses affiliated with schools, also released data it compiled from its members. The association claimed more than $11 million earmarked for athletes has been snarled and called for more transparency and speed from the CSC.
The new enforcement arm of college sports was established by the power conferences to oversee rules related to the revenue sharing system that was agreed to as part of the $2.8 billion settlement of the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit.
For the first time, schools are permitted to directly pay their athletes up to $20.5 million per year. Schools can distribute the money to their athletes however they choose. The CSC is responsible for enforcing that revenue-sharing cap and regulating outside NIL deals to ensure they reflect fair market value and legitimate business purposes.
The CSC said more than 28,342 college athletes and 1,227 “institutional users” have registered with NIL Go, which is managed by accounting firm Deloitte to evaluate how athletes are making money outside of what they are receiving from their schools.
“This initial report shows the new system is working as intended: legitimate NIL deals are being submitted, reviewed and approved through NIL Go,” College Sports Commission CEO Bryan Seeley said. “The strong engagement from student-athletes and institutions shows real progress toward the clarity, transparency and fairness that the House Settlement intended. We look forward to sharing our progress on a regular basis as we continue to refine and improve the NIL deal review process moving forward.”
The report said the 8,359 cleared deals range in value up to about $1.6 million.
The CSC was launched in June after a judge gave final approval to the House v. NCAA settlement. Led by Seeley, a former Major League Baseball executive in charge of investigations and enforcement, the commission is also in the process of turning the settlement into detailed policy.
That process already hit a snag in July. CSC guidance to schools initially said that all deals between athletes and NIL collectives — school-affiliated and booster-funded organizations — would be rejected for not serving a “valid business purpose.
Collective operators pushed back, and attorneys for the plaintiffs who negotiated the settlement with the NCAA and conferences claimed that interpretation violated terms of the deal.
The CSC later revised the guidance, allowing collective deals as long as the athlete is promoting “for-profit” goods or services to the public. Collective deals would be considered on a case-by-case basis.
That created a lot more deals to evaluate for the commission, which is still building its staff.
The CSC report said of the 332 rejected deals, 75 have been re-submitted and none are currently in arbitration. When a deal fails to be cleared, the parties involved can request a ruling from an outside arbiter.
The Collective Association, citing data from 25 members, cited 384 deals that have been submitted to date, with 120 rejected, 25 approved and 47 kicked back for more information. The other 192 deals submitted are awaiting a response. The average size of the deals is nearly $29,000, the association said.
The association said it recently polled more than 50 members representing athletes from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, American, Big East and Pac-12 conferences.
“While collectives are working diligently to comply, the feedback was unanimous: The current system lacks speed, transparency, and support needed to serve athletes effectively.”
Among the concerns cited were:
- Unanswered questions about how NIL deals for international athletes will be evaluated.
- Uncertainty about how fair market value is being determined.
- Confusion about how athletes can be compensated for time-sensitive opportunities that might arise from an in-game performance that spikes an athlete’s popularity and profile.
- No clear avenue for questions before deals are submitted.
The CSC said the most common issues are delays in providing necessary information for evaluation; contradictory deal terms and misreporting; and deals not satisfying “valid business purposes”.
The Collective Association made several recommendations for the CSC to consider to improve its process, including:
- A real-time help desk or live chat for NIL Go users.
- Allowing users to track progress of deals through the approval process with expected timelines.
- Better defining “fair market value”.
- Clarify rules for time-sensitive opportunities.
- Addressing international student-athlete eligibility.
- Standardizing deal evaluation with templates and examples for submissions.
The Collective Association also called for the creation of an NIL Oversight Task Force that would include athletes, representatives from collectives and athletic departments to review the system.
“The TCA and its member organizations remain committed to supporting student-athletes, operating within the rules, and working with the CSC to establish a transparent, timely, and athlete-first system,” the association said. “Without these improvements, both athletes and collectives face unnecessary uncertainty that undermines the promise of NIL opportunities.”
(Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
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