The NIL market is estimated to be worth approximately US$1.7 billion 2024-2025 season According to Opendorse. $1.1 billion of that will go to college football. Men’s basketball players earn approximately $389 million. Women’s basketball players earn approximately $75 million. Olympic athletes earn approximately $134 million.

This money-making practice began as early as July 2021, when the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA cannot prevent student-athletes from profiting from their name, image and likeness. Since the decision, the legal battle between the NCAA and state legislatures continues.

“It’s really interesting to watch the competitive balance between states,” said Rob Sine, CEO of Blueprint Sports. “Tennessee is more aggressive, Florida wants to be more aggressive, and then Texas wants to be more aggressive. More State laws are passed and repealed and then passed again.”

Blueprint Sports oversees several high-profile groups across the country. Supporters, individual donors and corporations often choose to fund collectives, which then pay athletes appearance fees or endorsement fees. It is estimated that these groups control approximately 80% zero interest rate market.

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“Schools are already very spread out. So for the professional services units, it’s nice for them to know that, hey, we’re going to have staff on campus that will represent them and the student-athletes,” Sheen said. “As a marketing agency we will handle all business, we will provide the sports department with a third party agency that we can negotiate with agents if an athlete comes in for a transfer, we can negotiate with athletes that we can handle through the portal, Termination of contract or something like that.”

Blueprint Sports oversees groups across the country, including One Pack NIL in North Carolina, 5430 Alliance in Colorado, happy valley pennsylvania United and the Arkansas Edge at Arkansas.

“The rules in Pennsylvania are different than the rules in Arkansas or North Carolina,” Seain said. “The NCAA’s guidance is to get the guidelines right. And then you have to follow state law in certain areas.”

The first guidance issued by the NCAA in 2021 is related to supreme court decision. Athletes can be paid if allowed by state law. The rules do try to prevent schools from using zero money to recruit athletes.

“It’s a lot easier,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville R-Ala. He mentioned how NIL laws have changed the hiring process in recent years. “It’s really not hiring now. It’s buying. It’s completely different.”

Before being elected to the Senate, Tuberville coached at the University of Mississippi, Auburn University, Texas Tech University and the University of Cincinnati. He has since co-sponsored NIL legislation with Senator Joe Manchin IW.V. He plans to work with Democrats in the next Congress to reintroduce or amend the Protecting Athletes, Schools, and Sports Act (PASS Act).

“In football and basketball, who makes the most money,” Tuberville said.

California signed its first state NIL law in 2019. Several other states are beginning to follow suit. Eventually, the Legislature began passing laws to circumvent NCAA guidance, allowing NIL funds to be used for recruiting.

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“Over the years, the money has gotten higher and higher, and student-athletes are like, wait a minute, you know, why don’t we get some money? Why don’t we share the revenue?” Tuberville said.

Tuberville said the collective influence is too great and legislation like the PASS Act would help level the playing field. But the collective disagreed.

“I don’t think the federal government is the way to do it. I think it creates more complexity,” Seain said. “I’ve seen those hearings before, but there wasn’t a lot of direction and smart ideas. There were a lot of draft bills. I think they’d have a hard time getting anything passed.”

Not all university officials believe the federal government should stay out of the NIL debate.

“This is a free market economy. We live in the greatest country in the world. I think it’s great that our student-athletes are now finally getting the compensation they deserve, but we need national standards for college sports. Every coach needs to know that when the ball is passed, we are all playing by the same rules. But right now, we don’t have that,” Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl said.

Alabama and South Carolina’s original laws reflected NCAA guidance prohibiting the use of NIL funds for recruiting. Other states are beginning to pass laws that deviate from this guidance and allow third-party donors to exploit loopholes to commit funds to potential student-athletes. This prompted the NCAA to change its stance. In 2022, the Division I Board of Trustees clarified that schools can ask donors to provide collective funding as long as the funds are not targeted at a specific sport or athlete.

“It was About graduation ratesor about, can you help me get to the NBA? Will we win the championship? What is the culture of the program like? These things are more important to parents,” Pearl said. “Now it’s become more transactional. What is my market value? How much money would I get if I went to that school? Of course, everyone’s budget is different these days. That’s what makes it a little unfair. “

Updated NCAA guidance prompted Alabama and South Carolina to repeal their original NIL laws. Both states believe other schools have more opportunities to recruit better players.

“It does give us more freedom,” Pearl said sadly. “We wanted the meetings and the people directing our program to be empowered. Now, everything goes to court. They lost every lawsuit.”

Texas passed legislation in 2023 that deviated from NCAA guidelines allowing donations to specific sports. The law also allows fans who donate to the NIL collective to enjoy perks and benefits. A provision also makes it illegal for the NCAA to punish schools that take full advantage of NILs.

“A lot of people are starting to see the gray area. So donors or other organizations across the country are looking at this, okay, instead of $100,000, we’re going to raise $2 million. Or we’re going to raise $20 million, we’re going to Really starting to build on that and create a very competitive advantage because no one told us we couldn’t,” Sine said.

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New transfer portal rules have intensified competition to find better players and pay them more money. Months before the Supreme Court issued its NIL ruling, the NCAA updated its transfer portal policy to allow Division I athletes to transfer on time and compete immediately.

Initially, athletes could transfer but would need to take a year off before competing unless granted a waiver by the NCAA. In 2024, the association updated its guidance to allow unrestricted transfers as long as athletes meet certain academic eligibility requirements.

“The Marshall football team, almost everybody transferred. They had to bow out of the bowl game,” Tuberville said. “Their coach is gone and they’re gone with them.”

Marshall will face Army in the Fallout Tech Independence Bowl. Instead, dozens of Marshall athletes entered the transfer portal. Army will now face Louisiana Tech.

“I understand the situation families are in, they may never make more money than they do now. So that’s what they follow. We’re teaching kids to run away, not fight.”

UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka announced in September that he would enter the transfer portal for the second time in his college career. Sluka’s agent said the $100,000 zero payment was never made after he agreed to transfer to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“The graduation rate is ruined due to a combination of the NIL and the transfer portal, and these guys are free agents,” Pearl lamented. “In some cases, the money could be significant.”

State laws also vary on who can represent student-athletes. In 2019, the Uniform Law Commission recommended that states pass the Uniform Athlete Agent Act. It allows student-athletes to hire agents to protect them from unfair practices. At least 39 states have passed such laws, but they do not mention NIL. Some legislatures have added agency provisions to state laws.

“Players have agents, they have lawyers, they have accountants. That’s what we’ve been against for years. Don’t sign with an agent. Keep them out of your life. But college football and college sports have evolved.”

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this The NCAA will now Allows colleges to make direct payments to players, in addition to payments already received through scholarships and third-party payments. Funding is capped at $20.5 million per school for all sports. The school already spends most of its money on the football program.

“If we don’t come up with some kind of solution, we’re going to lose a lot of football programs, basketball programs and women’s sports programs. The NCAA has to work with us,” Tuberville said. “When you have so many people involved and everyone wants to do it their own way, there really aren’t a lot of answers.”