By the way, there is a very simple way to fix this. Iām kinda annoyed I didnāt think of this before.
NIL in theory is supposed to be about the players capitalizing on their name, image and likenessā¦ As pitchmen, and in broader terms as far as media rights.
Letās divide that and tackle it:
As a pitchman? Similar to how CMC might be on TV telling you to come buy a Ford, etc? Sure thing, let these kids do as much of that as they want. No $ limits.
HOWEVAā¦
ABSOLUTELY. NO. TYING. IT. TO. WHERE. THEY PLAY.
None. If a booster / player are caught doing thisā¦ Perma banned immediately. If the school was complicit, Major infraction and some actual penalties. I would allocate the resources to have an audit team dedicated to reviewing these deals and give them clear enforcement authority.
Same applies for individual media rights (eg the movie / book deal).
For group rightsā¦ such as team rosters for video games, all of that money into one pool and shared equally in D1 player pool, etc.
For these big TV dealsā¦ Itās my opinion that roughly half that money should also go directly into a pool and that money should also be allocated to every player in the D1 pool.
If you institute these controls, you maintain some semblance of competitive balance without destroying a playerās ability to earn a living.
Whatās that you say? No one will pay a player $9.5 million to pitch Ford Trucks?
No shit. Thatās the point. That deal has nothing to do with NIL. Itās pay to play. And it needs to stop. He can get paid by getting a share of the media rights deal, and he is free to earn whatever other pitch money he wants to earn. So long as it doesnāt come with a promise to play at any specific school or in a specific league.