NCAA refines guidance to schools on NIL rules
The NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors approved on Wednesday new guidance to members on name, image and likeness activities, clarifying how schools, coaches and staffers can be involved with athletes’ endorsement and sponsorship deals.
The latest clarifications to the NCAA’s interim NIL policy create no new rules, but are intended to give athletic departments a better idea of what types of support fall outside existing bylaws.
“The NIL landscape is constantly evolving, and the Board of Directors decided it was important to offer further guidance with respect to a number of key questions that have arisen recently,” said Georgia President Jere Morehead, chairman of the D-I board. “As we continue to reinforce current NCAA rules, we expect to offer further guidance in the future on what should and should not be done when engaged in these activities."
The NCAA spelled out numerous activities that were permissible and impermissible.
Broadly, the NCAA said schools can not be involved in sourcing, negotiating or facilitating NIL deals for their athletes. Services related to NIL deals, such as legal review of contracts, can only be provided if those same services are available to the entire student body.
“The only services that schools are really allowed to provide for athletes under this new guidance are educational services: How to build your brand. How to handle finances, taxes and stuff like that,” sports law attorney Mit Winter said. “But (schools) can't be providing any service that’s going out and helping the athletes actually find deals unless that service is available to all students.”
The NCAA's interim NIL policy falls back on existing rules and makes it impermissible for deals to be used as recruiting inducements or pay-for-play or performancebased compensation.
Schools also must adhere to state laws regarding NIL compensation for athletes. Dozens of states have NIL laws, some that already prohibit schools from facilitating deals for athletes.
Tide DL Eboigbe out for the season
Alabama defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe is likely out for the season with a neck injury.
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said Wednesday Eboigbe has had surgery. He played in the first four games but hasn't seen action since.
“He had a procedure done that would enhance his opportunity to be able to play in the future, but I don't think that's going to come this season,” Saban said.
Eboigbe made 11 tackles and had two quarterback hurries in the first four games. Saban had announced his injury after Alabama beat Arkansas on Oct. 1 without giving a timetable for Eboigbe's return.
Iowa’s Ferentz issues apology
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz apologized Wednesday night for publicly criticizing a reporter who asked him about his decision to keep son Brian Ferentz as offensive coordinator with the Hawkeyes' offense performing so poorly this season.
Ferentz, umprompted, had said at his weekly news conference Tuesday that he had experienced an “interrogation” when Cleveland.com columnist Doug Lesmerises asked him about his son.
“The one good thing about it that dawned on me coming home ... I said, man, as bad as today was, it could have been worse because I could have been that guy," Ferentz told reporters Tuesday without naming Lesmerises. "I could have been that guy, had his job and had to act like he did. Yeah, it could be ... a lot worse. All things aren’t that bad.”