NCAA’s New Proposal: Schools to Pay Athletes Directly Through Trust Fund and NIL

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@@ScottPolacekTwitter Logo – December 5, 2023

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There may be a new way for college athletes to be compensated in the near future outside of the current framework of name, image and likeness opportunities. Yahoo Sports and The Athletic reported NCAA president Charlie Baker sent a letter to Division I members outlining a planned proposal that would allow high-resource schools the chance to opt into a subdivision of Division I schools that could pay athletes directly through NIL agreements and trust funds. Such a system would give schools more direct control over the NIL situation, which is largely controlled by booster-led collectives at this point. It also comes as the commissioners of the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 and ACC have actively lobbied Congress to step in and provide a national standard for NIL instead of leaving the rules up to individual states. Sens. Ted Cruz (R, Texas) and Cory Booker (D, New Jersey) have pushed toward a bipartisan solution and met with the commissioners. “I’m confident that there’s a bipartisan path and the urgency to get something done is there,” Booker said. “I think everybody who has a football or basketball player in their state is interested in getting it done.” “It kick-starts a long-overdue conversation among the membership that focuses on the differences that exist between schools, conferences and divisions and how to create more permissive and flexible rules across the NCAA that put student-athletes first,” Baker wrote. “Colleges and universities need to be more flexible, and the NCAA needs to be more flexible, too.” Schools that opt into the subdivision would still be under the NCAA’s umbrella and compete for the same championships as those that don’t. However, those that opt in would have control over variables such as countable coaches and scholarship limits. This would surely only accelerate a football split between the power conferences of the SEC…. [Read More]