Millions being pledged to college athletes

AUSTIN, Texas — Six months after one of the biggest rule changes in the history of college sports, money for athletes is being pledged by the millions in a development that has raised concerns about the role of wealthy alumni eager to back their beloved alma maters.

At Texas, one group is dangling $50,000 a year for individual offensive linemen while another says it already has $10 million promised for Longhorns athletes. At Oregon, billioniare Nike founder Phil Knight is part of group helping Ducks athletes line up deals — just one of many interested parties with deep pockets jumping in alongside the apparel companies, energy drink companies, car dealerships and restaurants already signing athletes to endorsement deals.

College football’s first national signing day arrives this week in this new money era. With few rules governing how it all works, the push to dangle cash in front of players already in uniform and lure future stars to campus has created a new, rapidly expanding frontier in college sports with so-called “collectives” and even nonprofits popping up to play ball.

“It is the wild, wild West,” said Todd Berry, executive director of the American

Football Coaches Association. “Did anyone expect anything different?”

Hundreds if not thousands of athletes are taking advantage of the name, image and likeness era, signing mostly modest deals to lend their celebrity to an advertising campaign for any number of businesses across the country. Some have landed truly spectacular deals worth far more.

The guidance put in place by the NCAA, schools and state laws are clear about one thing: A NIL deal cannot pay a player directly to attend or play for a school, though most schools were quick to provide NIL guidance, support and connections to interested businesses.