What is NIL, how has it changed college sports and why are schools under investigation?
Collegiate sports, largely unchanged for over a century, have experienced unprecedented change in less than one year. Much of that change has been centered around name, image, and likeness (NIL).
Amateurism has been part of the fabric of collegiate sports since the NCAA’s earliest inception. To oversimplify it: Players could not be paid to play. Student-athletes received only scholarships. But in June 2021, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the NCAA in NCAA v. Alston that the NCAA could not limit education-related payments to student-athletes. The NCAA then deferred to state laws on NIL — and, in states that hadn’t passed laws, the schools themselves. Two things remained verboten, per the NCAA: No pay-for-play, and no quid pro quo. Athletes weren’t supposed to receive compensation tied to performance, and recruits weren’t supposed to sign deals contingent on going to a certain school.
Article credited to The Athletic College Football Staff
