It’s a topic that riles up almost every college sports fan…NIL. Name, Image, and Likeness have been at the forefront of college sports for some time now. Fans seem divided on paying athletes, but it’s been a real issue for schools across the country. And now, it’s coming to a critical moment. House vs NCAA is the latest legal challenge and it has some of the biggest schools in the country looking to settle according to ESPN.
“The NCAA and its power conferences are defendants in an antitrust class action lawsuit, House v. NCAA, which argues that the association is breaking federal law by placing any restrictions on how athletes make money from selling the rights to their name, image or likeness. The case is scheduled to go to court in January 2025. If the plaintiffs win at trial, the NCAA and its schools could be liable to pay more than $4 billion in damages, which has motivated many leaders across the industry to seek a settlement”
4 Billion dollars will definitely get you to the bargaining table. Texas A&M recently made headlines when new athletic director Trev Alberts rolled into College Station and promptly cut members of the athletic department that had been there for as long as 30 years. This, all in anticipation, of what Alberts said was a coming 15-20 million dollar new budget expense in the form of paying athletes.
Now NCAA schools seem to be on board with sharing revenue (No one likes to say pay athletes). But how that looks, we don’t seem to know yet. Would that mean that the schools buy the athlete’s NIL rights? How does everything work with Title IX? All questions that do not have any answers. But we continue to move in this direction. And there’s still the matter of past athletes who are also suing for missing out. How much will they be paid? And what effects will that have on the fan and the prices they pay? All questions with no answers now, but this is the direction we’re moving in.
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