Newsletter, Image, Likeness Vol. 7: After 18 Months, Is The NCAA About To Enforce Its NIL Rules?

The Weekly Longer NIL Thought.

As of today, 540 days have passed since the NCAA implemented its interim NIL policy, which shed the prohibition on college athletes earning money related to their names, images, and likenesses, as long as there is a form of quid pro quo, the payment is not made in exchange for play and no compensation is contingent on an athlete enrolling at a particular institution.

You may have laughed when you read the third condition.

That is because inducements to commit or enroll are rampant across the college landscape. It not only affects the recruitment of high school athletes but also transfer portal players, with millions of dollars reportedly being offered to woo players from one institution to another. It is no wonder that we have seen hundreds of athletes enter their names into the transfer portal given the look and feel of free agency without any rules being enforced.

But after 18 months of silence from the NCAA and coaches becoming more willing to speak up, albeit remaining reluctant to name names (see the Tweets of the Week, below), will the NCAA finally begin to enforce its rules?

It may be too little and too late, but I'll tell you why there is a hint that the NCAA may at least try to embark on enforcement.

With very little fanfare, the NCAA has recently started to spruce up its enforcement division. What specifically caught my eye was the hiring of Craig Moringiello in August, who now serves as the Assistant Director of Enforcement at the NCAA. He has an interesting background.

Prior to becoming employed by the NCAA, Moringiello was an FBI executive leader with 20 years of federal experience in cybersecurity, counterintelligence, and strategic communications. Before his latest stint at the FBI, he was a Deputy Group Chief at the CIA. That's all to say that the NCAA hired no slouch.

It is hard to believe that the NCAA would retain such an individual and that a person like Moringiello would be interested in the job for no reason at all.

While I possess no hard evidence as to whether the NCAA will finally attempt to enforce its NIL rules (which may lead to litigation in response), it seems like the Association is gearing up for at least one enforcement action. Otherwise, I would be hard-pressed to understand why it would hire someone with the statute of Moringiello as well as why he would want the position.

Tweet Of The Week.

Comes from UTSA head football coach Jeff Traylor:

Okay, 2nd Tweet Of The Week.

With a quote from UNC head football coach Mack Brown:

Fine, Here's A 3rd Tweet That Relates To The 2nd.

Penn State Athletic Director Speaks On NIL.

Pat Kraft said that he felt like Penn State was "really behind from a total NIL perspective in educating" the school's college athletes, but he thinks Penn State is in a really good spot with regard to its infrastructure.

"I feel like we're really in a good spot. I don't lose as much sleep over that anymore. Do we have to get better? Yes. This is here to stay. This is part of the world we're living in," said Kraft.

"I think it's really hard for those of us -- I said this when we started -- to really walk through this NIL space. It's counter to everything we all grew up with in the industry."

Kraft also had some interesting commentary on collectives.

"A lot is made about the collectives, and they're very helpful, but that's a portion of the NIL space. Corporate is big. Utilizing internships and jobs and education. We're just scratching the surface. I think you have to find a sustainable model," said Kraft.

"What we have right now is not a sustainable model, and I don't believe that the way that it is now currently situated across the country is sustainable. There's a lot of misinformation on what people are being offered."

"And I think you're going to find as time goes on, wait, they told me I was going to get X, and now I'm not. So I think that's this new NIL world that we're living in. We're still trying to find our way through it."

Finally, on the NCAA's new NIL guidance, Kraft stated,

"The NCAA a few weeks ago came out with their rules and regulations. I couldn't understand them myself, and that's what I do for a living."

Illinois Joins The Fun On HS NIL.

It is now 1 of 25 state high school athletic associations that allow for NIL.

Congress Is Still Working On A Potential NIL Law?

At least Tommy Tuberville and Joe Manchin say so. Apparently, they have been working since the summer on crafting narrow legislation to create a national standard for college athlete NIL rights, and he does not believe that it would include an antitrust exemption for the NCAA.

I won't hold my breath. It's still unlikely that Congress takes action any time soon.

University of Portland Launches NIL Collective.

It's called Back the Bluff. It says that "nearly all" of donations will go directly to Portland athletes and that it "will never take a cut of any donations for personal profit." Initially, it is focused on men's and women's basketball.

Sam Hartman Promoting Mizzen And Main.

The Wake Forest quarterback posted about the partnership on his Instagram page.

Dabo Swinney Says Clemon's NIL Was Built On G-d's Name, Image, And Likeness..

Blame NIL For This Flip-Flopping?

Final Thoughts.

That is it for Vol. 7 of Newsletter, Image, Likeness. Thanks to the over 4,350 people who subscribed to this newsletter thus far, and please feel free to share this free resource with others on LinkedIn or elsewhere.

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