NIL’s not nil

Repeating for all needing

Gosh, that seemed underplayed. Maybe because the presidential primaries are heating up. Maybe because the AT&T shutdown spooked us all. Maybe because college basketball is getting closer to playoffs and college baseball has just begun. Maybe because the ruling came down on a Friday.

But as the news wires say, we’re repeating for all needing: The NCAA is just about done.

As in: dead, gone, 86’d, room temperature. Its rules are crumbling—with the force of judicial rulings.

A judge of the federal variety ruled Friday afternoon that the NCAA cannot punish boosters or athletes for negotiating NIL deals even during recruitment, and even while the student-athletes are on another campus but in the transfer portal. Name, image and likeness deals are now all-go.

For those who can’t be bothered with these things: The NCAA used to be a big thing in sports. We think one of the As in the acronym might stand for “Almighty.” The NCAA told colleges how many scholarships they could give to athletes, and what kind of spread they could put on bagels to serve to those athletes. (We’re not kidding.) And one of the things that was a no-no was paying athletes. That set the contrast between college sports and professional sports.

Until the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that all of that broke the nation’s own constitutional rules. That is, if a 19-year-old engineering student could sell his services—or use his name, image and likeness to endorse a product—then it’s only fair that athletes get to do that, too. And the NCAA saw the beginning of its end.

Apparently the NCAA tried to hold on to something. So its rules tried to punish athletes and boosters from negotiating deals during the recruiting process. And the federal judge ruled Friday: “The NCAA’s prohibition likely violates federal antitrust law and harms student-athletes.”

Why? According to the judge: “While the NCAA permits student-athletes to profit from their NIL, it fails to show how the timing of when a student-athlete enters such an agreement would destroy the goal of preserving amateurism.”

And that makes legal sense. Maybe even common sense, if you think the Supreme Court ruled the correct way when it started all this.

Hear an athletics attorney, Arkansas’ own Tom Mars, as quoted by ESPN: “I think this will be one more brick in the wall that is the end of the NCAA. Short of intervention by Congress, the demise of the NCAA now seems inevitable based on nothing but a financial analysis, as it appears the NCAA is poised to lose all of its upcoming antitrust cases. The cumulative effect of which could make the NCAA financially insolvent.” Then hear the NCAA itself, which said in a statement: “Turning upside down rules overwhelmingly supported by member schools will aggravate an already chaotic collegiate environment, further diminishing protections for student-athletes from exploitation. The NCAA fully supports student-athletes making money from their name, image and likeness and is making changes to deliver more benefits to student-athletes, but an endless patchwork of state laws and court opinions make clear partnering with Congress is necessary to provide stability for the future of all college athletes.”

Both statements have something in common: Congress.

If this is left to the market, schools like Florida State, Notre Dame, USC, UCLA, and about half of the SEC schools—probably not including the University of Arkansas—are going to offer the top athletes the best money, and college sports as we all know it will be much different.

Surely Texas A&M will be able to out-bid Mississippi State for the top quarterbacks. And surely USC will be able to out-bid South Carolina for the best point guards. The majority of college sports fans will be left to cheer for second-tier trophies.

Or pick another team to cheer for. That is, unless Congress gets involved and makes some national rules. That might take a while—maybe a couple of years to hear from all the sides in committee and debate all the problems/answers—so our editorial opinion is: Let’s get started. Before college sports are beyond repair.