College conferences call for federal oversight as student-athlete pay gets messy

Blow the whistle 🎶… Last week, 28 of the top college athletic conferences, including the ACC and Big Ten, teamed up to create the Coalition for the Future of College Athletics (C4FCA). The goal: lobby Congress for the first federal regulation on student-athlete paid endorsements (name, image, likeness — aka NIL deals). Right now, rules are state by state.

• Before NIL, college athletes weren’t allowed to be compensated (beyond scholarships). Meanwhile, conferences raked in billions each year in broadcasting agreements. Since a 2021 SCOTUS ruling, student-athletes have been able to cash in on their NIL, striking deals with business from corner stores to Amazon. Now…

• The student-athlete NIL market is worth ~$1B/year, and college sports players are seen as the “best-performing subset of influencers.”

• Top performers: USC basketball’s Bronny James has an NCAA-topping ~$6M/year NIL earnings potential. Colorado University QB Shedeur Sanders leads college football at $4.3M/year. LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne could make $3.2M with commercials for brands like American Eagle and Vuori.

“Should be wearing Dri-FIT”… or not. Varying NIL laws have been passed in 30+ states in the past two years. Colleges say that state-by-state differences have created competitive disadvantages in recruiting, and they’ve (successfully) lobbied to get lots of rules amended or nixed. In Missouri, high-school athletes can profit from endorsements as long as they agree to attend an in-state public university (advantaging schools like Mizzou). Some colleges also have their own sponsorships, which can cause conflict with students’ deals: Ohio State bars athletes from wearing Nike competitors’ products during team events or promoting any Coke rivals.