[dabigv13]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootbal...plications

The different state tax rates could make a big difference for some of the really big NIL deals. I could also see some state legislatures in particularly rabid college football states even passing legislation to make the state taxes exempt, though the federal chunk will always be the biggest, and those states probably already have low state taxes.

Hopefully Stanford is educating our student athletes about this issue.

[dabigv13]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootbal...plications

The different state tax rates could make a big difference for some of the really big NIL deals. I could also see some state legislatures in particularly rabid college football states even passing legislation to make the state taxes exempt, though the federal chunk will always be the biggest, and those states probably already have low state taxes.

Hopefully Stanford is educating our student athletes about this issue.

[bbm233]

Hopefully Lifetime Cardinal has resources to help with quarterly estimated payments, including Medicare and Social Security calculations.

[bbm233]

Hopefully Lifetime Cardinal has resources to help with quarterly estimated payments, including Medicare and Social Security calculations.

[jacket3ree]

Getting paid means receiving income. How can anyone be surprised?

For it to be legal, the non-employee sponsorships and services income needs to be reported on 1099-NEC with the same tax repercussions as cash awards.  Heck, when my wife an I won a "free" trip to Tahiti that one time, I was careful to report it.

But yeah, this will be a mess and a bunch of people will owe hundreds of thousands in taxes and penalties. When they are paid by schools directly, that portion of their income will be reported on W2. Welcome to adulthood. 

Suddenly Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington win everything in every sport, losing only to each other. Out of the blue teams in Alaska and South Dakota move into power leagues and Wyoming is a kingpin. Even Dartmouth starts kicking ass. The Runnin' Rebels are back baby!

[jacket3ree]

Getting paid means receiving income. How can anyone be surprised?

For it to be legal, the non-employee sponsorships and services income needs to be reported on 1099-NEC with the same tax repercussions as cash awards.  Heck, when my wife an I won a "free" trip to Tahiti that one time, I was careful to report it.

But yeah, this will be a mess and a bunch of people will owe hundreds of thousands in taxes and penalties. When they are paid by schools directly, that portion of their income will be reported on W2. Welcome to adulthood. 

Suddenly Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington win everything in every sport, losing only to each other. Out of the blue teams in Alaska and South Dakota move into power leagues and Wyoming is a kingpin. Even Dartmouth starts kicking ass. The Runnin' Rebels are back baby!

[M T]

The Mercury News has a subscriber-only article today
"Stanford’s move to ACC: AD Muir on finances, changing landscape, internal turnover"

“We’re taking less of a media share to start, but we have support of the institution and also support of our alumni base,” Muir said. “Our community has been very generous over the years, has created endowments for us that have been quite helpful, and we’re going to have to continue to build those endowments moving forward.”

Once again, the "tax" word was avoided in the article.  Even the loaded word "donation" is avoided.  It almost seems that subject is prohibited if Muir gives an interview.  You'd think a reporter would bring it up, if allowed.  I can understand Muir knowing how to skirt using those words.

This led me to wonder again about the tax situation.  Before NIL, I would have suspected that donating an endowment for the Computer Science Department Chairman, the head of the Med School, or a coach at a university would have been a tax deductible donation. Now I wonder if I was wrong.

Are the power-5 schools trying to set things up so that the school paying a player $1M for a year's play is an expense like paying the janitor of the administration building?  (It seems clear to me that if Nike directly pays a player for the use of Name, Image, or Likeness, that won't be tax deductible to Nike nor tax free to the player.)  But what about money that is routed through a university?  ("Hey, Texas Tech, we'll 'donate' $$$ to your athletic department, if Canady plays in our pro-am golf tourney") or through a NIL collective?

My understanding is that, for the golf tourney example, the donor to the school gets the benefit of the appearance of Canady, so the value of that appearance must be deducted from the donation to get the tax deductible amount.   But what if she first goes to some other pro-am tourney and only asks for $100, to set a value of her appearance?

What if Joe Alumnus donates $100 to school, directing the money to be directed to the athletic department?  Previously, I thought that would be tax deductible.  What if he directs it to be paid for the coach's salary or to a particular player's salary?

I acknowledge that Logic and Tax Law are orthogonal to each other.  But to my logic, I would now question whether paying $6M or $12M to a University coach is an expense that promotes the educational charter of a university.  It seems more like an expense for a for-profit (even if in the red) athletic department subsidiary.  (It might be different if the university offered a degree in pro-football.)

It should be obvious that I am not particularly knowledgeable in these tax areas.  Others here that are, I'd appreciate your views.

[M T]

The Mercury News has a subscriber-only article today
"Stanford’s move to ACC: AD Muir on finances, changing landscape, internal turnover"

“We’re taking less of a media share to start, but we have support of the institution and also support of our alumni base,” Muir said. “Our community has been very generous over the years, has created endowments for us that have been quite helpful, and we’re going to have to continue to build those endowments moving forward.”

Once again, the "tax" word was avoided in the article.  Even the loaded word "donation" is avoided.  It almost seems that subject is prohibited if Muir gives an interview.  You'd think a reporter would bring it up, if allowed.  I can understand Muir knowing how to skirt using those words.

This led me to wonder again about the tax situation.  Before NIL, I would have suspected that donating an endowment for the Computer Science Department Chairman, the head of the Med School, or a coach at a university would have been a tax deductible donation. Now I wonder if I was wrong.

Are the power-5 schools trying to set things up so that the school paying a player $1M for a year's play is an expense like paying the janitor of the administration building?  (It seems clear to me that if Nike directly pays a player for the use of Name, Image, or Likeness, that won't be tax deductible to Nike nor tax free to the player.)  But what about money that is routed through a university?  ("Hey, Texas Tech, we'll 'donate' $$$ to your athletic department, if Canady plays in our pro-am golf tourney") or through a NIL collective?

My understanding is that, for the golf tourney example, the donor to the school gets the benefit of the appearance of Canady, so the value of that appearance must be deducted from the donation to get the tax deductible amount.   But what if she first goes to some other pro-am tourney and only asks for $100, to set a value of her appearance?

What if Joe Alumnus donates $100 to school, directing the money to be directed to the athletic department?  Previously, I thought that would be tax deductible.  What if he directs it to be paid for the coach's salary or to a particular player's salary?

I acknowledge that Logic and Tax Law are orthogonal to each other.  But to my logic, I would now question whether paying $6M or $12M to a University coach is an expense that promotes the educational charter of a university.  It seems more like an expense for a for-profit (even if in the red) athletic department subsidiary.  (It might be different if the university offered a degree in pro-football.)

It should be obvious that I am not particularly knowledgeable in these tax areas.  Others here that are, I'd appreciate your views.

[Mick]

I'm not knowledgeable on tax deductibility of the disparate ways that funds are sourced on behalf of athletic departments. 

I  do know that the 131 football schools have over 200 NIL collectives and are selling most of them as tax deductible. What a number of them are doing is blending the focus of the collectives to reduce the impact of the NIL transfer payments. For example, UMich created a new NIL collective which pays the athletes just 30% of total funds collected and uses the balance for charitable work. Penn State does the same.

Others fold a free-standing nonprofit NIL into a larger operating tax-exempt charity (e.g., a DAF, donor advised fund) in order to refer to the NIL payments as "insubstantial" by comparison to the larger charity's work.

[Mick]

I'm not knowledgeable on tax deductibility of the disparate ways that funds are sourced on behalf of athletic departments. 

I  do know that the 131 football schools have over 200 NIL collectives and are selling most of them as tax deductible. What a number of them are doing is blending the focus of the collectives to reduce the impact of the NIL transfer payments. For example, UMich created a new NIL collective which pays the athletes just 30% of total funds collected and uses the balance for charitable work. Penn State does the same.

Others fold a free-standing nonprofit NIL into a larger operating tax-exempt charity (e.g., a DAF, donor advised fund) in order to refer to the NIL payments as "insubstantial" by comparison to the larger charity's work.

[BostonCard]

IRS considers NIL income to be taxable.

https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/new...e%20income.



Also, the IRS does not consider donations to a collective to be tax deductible.

https://apnews.com/article/nil-athlete-e...8196fd2c8c

I'll bet dollars to donuts that there will be much litigation.

BC

[BostonCard]

IRS considers NIL income to be taxable.

https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/new...e%20income.



Also, the IRS does not consider donations to a collective to be tax deductible.

https://apnews.com/article/nil-athlete-e...8196fd2c8c

I'll bet dollars to donuts that there will be much litigation.

BC

[chrisk]

21% Excise tax on coaches salaries over $1m

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc...808934002/

---

The Mercury News has a subscriber-only article today
"Stanford’s move to ACC: AD Muir on finances, changing landscape, internal turnover"

“We’re taking less of a media share to start, but we have support of the institution and also support of our alumni base,” Muir said. “Our community has been very generous over the years, has created endowments for us that have been quite helpful, and we’re going to have to continue to build those endowments moving forward.”

Once again, the "tax" word was avoided in the article.  Even the loaded word "donation" is avoided.  It almost seems that subject is prohibited if Muir gives an interview.  You'd think a reporter would bring it up, if allowed.  I can understand Muir knowing how to skirt using those words.

This led me to wonder again about the tax situation.  Before NIL, I would have suspected that donating an endowment for the Computer Science Department Chairman, the head of the Med School, or a coach at a university would have been a tax deductible donation. Now I wonder if I was wrong.

Are the power-5 schools trying to set things up so that the school paying a player $1M for a year's play is an expense like paying the janitor of the administration building?  (It seems clear to me that if Nike directly pays a player for the use of Name, Image, or Likeness, that won't be tax deductible to Nike nor tax free to the player.)  But what about money that is routed through a university?  ("Hey, Texas Tech, we'll 'donate' $$$ to your athletic department, if Canady plays in our pro-am golf tourney") or through a NIL collective?

My understanding is that, for the golf tourney example, the donor to the school gets the benefit of the appearance of Canady, so the value of that appearance must be deducted from the donation to get the tax deductible amount.   But what if she first goes to some other pro-am tourney and only asks for $100, to set a value of her appearance?

What if Joe Alumnus donates $100 to school, directing the money to be directed to the athletic department?  Previously, I thought that would be tax deductible.  What if he directs it to be paid for the coach's salary or to a particular player's salary?

I acknowledge that Logic and Tax Law are orthogonal to each other.  But to my logic, I would now question whether paying $6M or $12M to a University coach is an expense that promotes the educational charter of a university.  It seems more like an expense for a for-profit (even if in the red) athletic department subsidiary.  (It might be different if the university offered a degree in pro-football.)

It should be obvious that I am not particularly knowledgeable in these tax areas.  Others here that are, I'd appreciate your views.

If you made a donation to an NIL collective that claimed to be a 501©(3) would you take a tax deduction or would you pass to minimize the chance that you get audited?

[chrisk]

21% Excise tax on coaches salaries over $1m

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc...808934002/

---

The Mercury News has a subscriber-only article today
"Stanford’s move to ACC: AD Muir on finances, changing landscape, internal turnover"

“We’re taking less of a media share to start, but we have support of the institution and also support of our alumni base,” Muir said. “Our community has been very generous over the years, has created endowments for us that have been quite helpful, and we’re going to have to continue to build those endowments moving forward.”

Once again, the "tax" word was avoided in the article.  Even the loaded word "donation" is avoided.  It almost seems that subject is prohibited if Muir gives an interview.  You'd think a reporter would bring it up, if allowed.  I can understand Muir knowing how to skirt using those words.

This led me to wonder again about the tax situation.  Before NIL, I would have suspected that donating an endowment for the Computer Science Department Chairman, the head of the Med School, or a coach at a university would have been a tax deductible donation. Now I wonder if I was wrong.

Are the power-5 schools trying to set things up so that the school paying a player $1M for a year's play is an expense like paying the janitor of the administration building?  (It seems clear to me that if Nike directly pays a player for the use of Name, Image, or Likeness, that won't be tax deductible to Nike nor tax free to the player.)  But what about money that is routed through a university?  ("Hey, Texas Tech, we'll 'donate' $$$ to your athletic department, if Canady plays in our pro-am golf tourney") or through a NIL collective?

My understanding is that, for the golf tourney example, the donor to the school gets the benefit of the appearance of Canady, so the value of that appearance must be deducted from the donation to get the tax deductible amount.   But what if she first goes to some other pro-am tourney and only asks for $100, to set a value of her appearance?

What if Joe Alumnus donates $100 to school, directing the money to be directed to the athletic department?  Previously, I thought that would be tax deductible.  What if he directs it to be paid for the coach's salary or to a particular player's salary?

I acknowledge that Logic and Tax Law are orthogonal to each other.  But to my logic, I would now question whether paying $6M or $12M to a University coach is an expense that promotes the educational charter of a university.  It seems more like an expense for a for-profit (even if in the red) athletic department subsidiary.  (It might be different if the university offered a degree in pro-football.)

It should be obvious that I am not particularly knowledgeable in these tax areas.  Others here that are, I'd appreciate your views.

If you made a donation to an NIL collective that claimed to be a 501©(3) would you take a tax deduction or would you pass to minimize the chance that you get audited?

[GK3]

IRS considers NIL income to be taxable.

https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/new...e%20income.



Also, the IRS does not consider donations to a collective to be tax deductible.

https://apnews.com/article/nil-athlete-e...8196fd2c8c

I'll bet dollars to donuts that there will be much litigation.

BC

Of course, how else can you justify paying for all those accountants and lawyers.

---

21% Excise tax on coaches salaries over $1m

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc...808934002/

---

The Mercury News has a subscriber-only article today
"Stanford’s move to ACC: AD Muir on finances, changing landscape, internal turnover"

“We’re taking less of a media share to start, but we have support of the institution and also support of our alumni base,” Muir said. “Our community has been very generous over the years, has created endowments for us that have been quite helpful, and we’re going to have to continue to build those endowments moving forward.”

Once again, the "tax" word was avoided in the article.  Even the loaded word "donation" is avoided.  It almost seems that subject is prohibited if Muir gives an interview.  You'd think a reporter would bring it up, if allowed.  I can understand Muir knowing how to skirt using those words.

This led me to wonder again about the tax situation.  Before NIL, I would have suspected that donating an endowment for the Computer Science Department Chairman, the head of the Med School, or a coach at a university would have been a tax deductible donation. Now I wonder if I was wrong.

Are the power-5 schools trying to set things up so that the school paying a player $1M for a year's play is an expense like paying the janitor of the administration building?  (It seems clear to me that if Nike directly pays a player for the use of Name, Image, or Likeness, that won't be tax deductible to Nike nor tax free to the player.)  But what about money that is routed through a university?  ("Hey, Texas Tech, we'll 'donate' $$$ to your athletic department, if Canady plays in our pro-am golf tourney") or through a NIL collective?

My understanding is that, for the golf tourney example, the donor to the school gets the benefit of the appearance of Canady, so the value of that appearance must be deducted from the donation to get the tax deductible amount.   But what if she first goes to some other pro-am tourney and only asks for $100, to set a value of her appearance?

What if Joe Alumnus donates $100 to school, directing the money to be directed to the athletic department?  Previously, I thought that would be tax deductible.  What if he directs it to be paid for the coach's salary or to a particular player's salary?

I acknowledge that Logic and Tax Law are orthogonal to each other.  But to my logic, I would now question whether paying $6M or $12M to a University coach is an expense that promotes the educational charter of a university.  It seems more like an expense for a for-profit (even if in the red) athletic department subsidiary.  (It might be different if the university offered a degree in pro-football.)

It should be obvious that I am not particularly knowledgeable in these tax areas.  Others here that are, I'd appreciate your views.

If you made a donation to an NIL collective that claimed to be a 501©(3)  would you take a tax deduction or would you pass to minimize the chance that you get audited?

It would probably depend on where I stood on the most likely to be audited list. It is my understanding that only a small portiion of the taxpayers get audited. So avoid what might put you on the short list.

[GK3]

IRS considers NIL income to be taxable.

https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/new...e%20income.



Also, the IRS does not consider donations to a collective to be tax deductible.

https://apnews.com/article/nil-athlete-e...8196fd2c8c

I'll bet dollars to donuts that there will be much litigation.

BC

Of course, how else can you justify paying for all those accountants and lawyers.

---

21% Excise tax on coaches salaries over $1m

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc...808934002/

---

The Mercury News has a subscriber-only article today
"Stanford’s move to ACC: AD Muir on finances, changing landscape, internal turnover"

“We’re taking less of a media share to start, but we have support of the institution and also support of our alumni base,” Muir said. “Our community has been very generous over the years, has created endowments for us that have been quite helpful, and we’re going to have to continue to build those endowments moving forward.”

Once again, the "tax" word was avoided in the article.  Even the loaded word "donation" is avoided.  It almost seems that subject is prohibited if Muir gives an interview.  You'd think a reporter would bring it up, if allowed.  I can understand Muir knowing how to skirt using those words.

This led me to wonder again about the tax situation.  Before NIL, I would have suspected that donating an endowment for the Computer Science Department Chairman, the head of the Med School, or a coach at a university would have been a tax deductible donation. Now I wonder if I was wrong.

Are the power-5 schools trying to set things up so that the school paying a player $1M for a year's play is an expense like paying the janitor of the administration building?  (It seems clear to me that if Nike directly pays a player for the use of Name, Image, or Likeness, that won't be tax deductible to Nike nor tax free to the player.)  But what about money that is routed through a university?  ("Hey, Texas Tech, we'll 'donate' $$$ to your athletic department, if Canady plays in our pro-am golf tourney") or through a NIL collective?

My understanding is that, for the golf tourney example, the donor to the school gets the benefit of the appearance of Canady, so the value of that appearance must be deducted from the donation to get the tax deductible amount.   But what if she first goes to some other pro-am tourney and only asks for $100, to set a value of her appearance?

What if Joe Alumnus donates $100 to school, directing the money to be directed to the athletic department?  Previously, I thought that would be tax deductible.  What if he directs it to be paid for the coach's salary or to a particular player's salary?

I acknowledge that Logic and Tax Law are orthogonal to each other.  But to my logic, I would now question whether paying $6M or $12M to a University coach is an expense that promotes the educational charter of a university.  It seems more like an expense for a for-profit (even if in the red) athletic department subsidiary.  (It might be different if the university offered a degree in pro-football.)

It should be obvious that I am not particularly knowledgeable in these tax areas.  Others here that are, I'd appreciate your views.

If you made a donation to an NIL collective that claimed to be a 501©(3)  would you take a tax deduction or would you pass to minimize the chance that you get audited?

It would probably depend on where I stood on the most likely to be audited list. It is my understanding that only a small portiion of the taxpayers get audited. So avoid what might put you on the short list.

[SkiBum80]

...I'll bet dollars to donuts that there will be much litigation.

I think it depends on what your definition of "much" is.
If you mean a lotta lawyers involved I'd agee.
But if you mean a lotta cases, I actually kind of doubt it.
I think there will more likely be one (or two) strategic cases that ever go to trial, which I think the IRS will win decisively.
Holding in court that there is no way donations to an organization that is primarily meant to funnel NIL cash to college athletes is in any way a charitable donation for tax purposes.
After one (or two) big wins for IRS, there may not be any more similar cases for awhile.
Such my expectation.

[SkiBum80]

...I'll bet dollars to donuts that there will be much litigation.

I think it depends on what your definition of "much" is.
If you mean a lotta lawyers involved I'd agee.
But if you mean a lotta cases, I actually kind of doubt it.
I think there will more likely be one (or two) strategic cases that ever go to trial, which I think the IRS will win decisively.
Holding in court that there is no way donations to an organization that is primarily meant to funnel NIL cash to college athletes is in any way a charitable donation for tax purposes.
After one (or two) big wins for IRS, there may not be any more similar cases for awhile.
Such my expectation.

[Beeg_Dawg]

Getting paid means receiving income. How can anyone be surprised?

For it to be legal, the non-employee sponsorships and services income needs to be reported on 1099-NEC with the same tax repercussions as cash awards.  Heck, when my wife an I won a "free" trip to Tahiti that one time, I was careful to report it.

But yeah, this will be a mess and a bunch of people will owe hundreds of thousands in taxes and penalties. When they are paid by schools directly, that portion of their income will be reported on W2. Welcome to adulthood. 

Suddenly Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington win everything in every sport, losing only to each other. Out of the blue teams in Alaska and South Dakota move into power leagues and Wyoming is a kingpin. Even Dartmouth starts kicking ass. The Runnin' Rebels are back baby!

Will a portion of the NIL income be taxed by states where games are played, claiming a percentage of the money was "earned" during a game played in that state?  NIL will end up being a windfall for tax collectors and accountants.

[Beeg_Dawg]

Getting paid means receiving income. How can anyone be surprised?

For it to be legal, the non-employee sponsorships and services income needs to be reported on 1099-NEC with the same tax repercussions as cash awards.  Heck, when my wife an I won a "free" trip to Tahiti that one time, I was careful to report it.

But yeah, this will be a mess and a bunch of people will owe hundreds of thousands in taxes and penalties. When they are paid by schools directly, that portion of their income will be reported on W2. Welcome to adulthood. 

Suddenly Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington win everything in every sport, losing only to each other. Out of the blue teams in Alaska and South Dakota move into power leagues and Wyoming is a kingpin. Even Dartmouth starts kicking ass. The Runnin' Rebels are back baby!

Will a portion of the NIL income be taxed by states where games are played, claiming a percentage of the money was "earned" during a game played in that state?  NIL will end up being a windfall for tax collectors and accountants.

[Mick]

Getting paid means receiving income. How can anyone be surprised?

For it to be legal, the non-employee sponsorships and services income needs to be reported on 1099-NEC with the same tax repercussions as cash awards.  Heck, when my wife an I won a "free" trip to Tahiti that one time, I was careful to report it.

But yeah, this will be a mess and a bunch of people will owe hundreds of thousands in taxes and penalties. When they are paid by schools directly, that portion of their income will be reported on W2. Welcome to adulthood. 

Suddenly Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington win everything in every sport, losing only to each other. Out of the blue teams in Alaska and South Dakota move into power leagues and Wyoming is a kingpin. Even Dartmouth starts kicking ass. The Runnin' Rebels are back baby!

Will a portion of the NIL income be taxed by states where games are played, claiming a percentage of the money was "earned" during a game played in that state?  NIL will end up being a windfall for tax collectors and accountants.

Knowing how much the state needs money, I anticipate that they will leap on NIL payments as regular income...

[Mick]

Getting paid means receiving income. How can anyone be surprised?

For it to be legal, the non-employee sponsorships and services income needs to be reported on 1099-NEC with the same tax repercussions as cash awards.  Heck, when my wife an I won a "free" trip to Tahiti that one time, I was careful to report it.

But yeah, this will be a mess and a bunch of people will owe hundreds of thousands in taxes and penalties. When they are paid by schools directly, that portion of their income will be reported on W2. Welcome to adulthood. 

Suddenly Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington win everything in every sport, losing only to each other. Out of the blue teams in Alaska and South Dakota move into power leagues and Wyoming is a kingpin. Even Dartmouth starts kicking ass. The Runnin' Rebels are back baby!

Will a portion of the NIL income be taxed by states where games are played, claiming a percentage of the money was "earned" during a game played in that state?  NIL will end up being a windfall for tax collectors and accountants.

Knowing how much the state needs money, I anticipate that they will leap on NIL payments as regular income...

[jonnyss]

Are the power-5 schools trying to set things up so that the school paying a player $1M for a year's play is an expense like paying the janitor of the administration building?  (It seems clear to me that if Nike directly pays a player for the use of Name, Image, or Likeness, that won't be tax deductible to Nike nor tax free to the player.)  But what about money that is routed through a university?  ("Hey, Texas Tech, we'll 'donate' $$$ to your athletic department, if Canady plays in our pro-am golf tourney") or through a NIL collective?

i would think that nike's payments to a college player for nil are deductible as a legitimate business expense. pretty sure nike deducts the payments to pro athletes/actors in its tv commercials.

[jonnyss]

Are the power-5 schools trying to set things up so that the school paying a player $1M for a year's play is an expense like paying the janitor of the administration building?  (It seems clear to me that if Nike directly pays a player for the use of Name, Image, or Likeness, that won't be tax deductible to Nike nor tax free to the player.)  But what about money that is routed through a university?  ("Hey, Texas Tech, we'll 'donate' $$$ to your athletic department, if Canady plays in our pro-am golf tourney") or through a NIL collective?

i would think that nike's payments to a college player for nil are deductible as a legitimate business expense. pretty sure nike deducts the payments to pro athletes/actors in its tv commercials.