NIL Regulation: Can the NCAA Recover and Advance Its Own Fumble?

With a view toward injecting some modicum of clarity into the volatile arena of NIL, a plethora of legislation has been enacted at the state level and proposed at the federal level. For the past three years, in the wake of all this turbulence, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), had been for the most part a spectator in the bleachers. But in the past few months it appears the NCAA may have begun to buckle its chinstrap.

Since the inception of the NCAA, other than scholarships and stingy board and meal allowances, athletes representing participating member institutions have been precluded from legally receiving any compensation. At least since about 1910, the NCAA has been the primary regulator of college athletics. Since the late 1970's when vast amounts of money first began to be infused into college athletics, the NCAA has stubbornly refused to address the inequity of student-athletes being barred from receiving compensation. The injustice of this "amateur" status has been highlighted as coaches, athletic directors, college administrations and endowment funds, advertising agencies, online gaming platforms, video-game producers, television networks and apparel companies, have reaped massive revenue. The billions of dollars generated by the advent of the Bowl Championship Series (and financial projections relating to its imminent expansion) have only exacerbated this perceived inequity.