Athletes in college and high school are already cashing in on NIL money. NIL is short for “name, image, and likeness. NIL deals mean that student-athletes can enter into contracts to endorse products and make money off their brand.
Additionally, they can do commercials for TV, post branded ads on their social media channels, and have companies do the same. They can do what professional athletes have been doing for decades.
Then early in 2024, the NCAA agreed with the so-called “power five” athletic conferences. The agreement, part of a class-action lawsuit known as House v. NCAA, will allow athletes to receive pay directly from the colleges and universities they play for.
The agreement, is still pending and must be approved by a federal judge overseeing the case, a decision that could be months away.
Pending approval $2.75 billion will be distributed to athletes who competed before July 2021, when the NCAA first allowed athletes to earn money from their name, image, and likeness rights. The second part of the agreement would create a future revenue-sharing model in which schools could each distribute around $20 million per year directly to athletes.
Remember this agreement is for the Power 5 conferences — the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Pac-12, and the Southeastern Conference, schools where student-athletes in football and basketball generate the most money.
Now it seems that other athletes from smaller schools in other sports could get paid also. A U.S. appeals court ruled that college athletes who benefit from their schools may qualify as employees under minimum-wage laws.
The court stated a test should be developed to determine which students play college sports for fun and which give an effort that crosses the legal line into work. “With professional athletes as the clearest indicators, playing sports can certainly constitute compensable work,” U.S. Circuit Judge L. Felipe Restrepo wrote. “Ultimately, the touchstone remains whether the cumulative circumstances of the relationship between the athlete and college or NCAA reveal an economic reality that is that of an employee-employer.”
I’m not sure how this will work out, but it is a step in the right direction for athletes who more than deserve it.