[BostonCard]

Pete,

I think you are conflating two separate things.  The ~$20 million pot represents the amount schools can pay players directly as part of the House settlement.  It is not meant to replace money that athletes can negotiate with third parties for use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL).  In theory, the NIL money is supposed to represent “true” NIL, where players are paid fair market value (FMV) for actual use of their NIL for promotional purposes.  For example, an athlete can sign with a national brand and be paid to film a commercial or be paid by a local brand for an endorsement (something like Palo Alto Burger Co., home of the Somfai burger).  The NIL deals above a de minimis amount are supposed to be vetted by a clearinghouse to ensure that they are not a way to circumvent the $20 million House payments, but I think most people expect that the clearinghouse will be toothless.  Already they’ve had to backtrack on collectives, which were initially going to be outlawed.  So, I think we will see $20 million in House money payments plus however much of NIL money the school can coordinate that will have a fig leaf of vaguely fair “market value”.

BC

[BostonCard]

Pete,

I think you are conflating two separate things.  The ~$20 million pot represents the amount schools can pay players directly as part of the House settlement.  It is not meant to replace money that athletes can negotiate with third parties for use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL).  In theory, the NIL money is supposed to represent “true” NIL, where players are paid fair market value (FMV) for actual use of their NIL for promotional purposes.  For example, an athlete can sign with a national brand and be paid to film a commercial or be paid by a local brand for an endorsement (something like Palo Alto Burger Co., home of the Somfai burger).  The NIL deals above a de minimis amount are supposed to be vetted by a clearinghouse to ensure that they are not a way to circumvent the $20 million House payments, but I think most people expect that the clearinghouse will be toothless.  Already they’ve had to backtrack on collectives, which were initially going to be outlawed.  So, I think we will see $20 million in House money payments plus however much of NIL money the school can coordinate that will have a fig leaf of vaguely fair “market value”.

BC