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Mid majors face potential NIL legislation

Published

8 months ago

May 7, 2025

Mid majors face potential NIL legislation

Former Wildcat football standout Anthony Egbo, Jr., spoke on March 4 to a congressional committee about the potential changes to name, image and likeness deals for college athletes.

Egbo, the vice-chair of the NCAA Div. I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, spoke to the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the importance of letting student-athletes remain students.

“There’s been a strong push to have student athletes classified as employees,” Egbo said. “What that would do is that student athletes wouldn’t be students anymore.”

This potential legislation is based on the fact that student-athletes may be considered employees of the university instead of students who attend the school for education. Egbo said this would be detrimental to student-athletes because the quality of their education could decrease.

Egbo emphasized the importance of letting student-athletes remain students to the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee.

“They are students who dedicate their time and energy to their sport while simultaneously earning their degree and catapulting themselves into life after athletics,” he said. “For these student-athletes, the unique opportunity to do all these things at once is unique to college sports.”

Many departments of athletics across the country have seen how some schools have lobbied their congressional representatives to write different legislation, some asking for advantages over other states.

“Some states are writing bills that will pretty much exempt NIL money from getting taxed,” Egbo said. “So now if the University of Oregon is trying to recruit a kid that also is getting recruited by the University of Idaho, now they can offer him this amount of money and tell him that it’s not gonna get taxed, versus if he goes to another state that doesn’t have that in place, he’s gonna get taxed.”

Egbo said the most important thing for legislators to realize when it comes to NIL is that all schools need to be on a level playing field.

“Uniform rules and clarity on them are needed to ensure that NIL is here to stay;” Egbo said, “it fulfills its intended purposes and is not harmful to the ones it was created to benefit.”

Another setback for smaller universities like ACU is that football has become the basis for how popular a school is, which widens the gap even further between Football Championship Subdivision and Football Bowl Subdivision schools, even if FCS schools have basketball programs far better than FBS schools.

“As beloved as the NCAA basketball tournament is to many,” said Paul Weir, deputy athletic director and chief operating officer, “college football has become the primary element in defining a school and its relevance in the national landscape and many schools right now are jockeying for where they will end up in that landscape.”

Another drawback to classifying student athletes as employees is that it would hurt the athletics programs that do not draw as much attention or revenue. While most sports bring in at least a little bit of revenue, the main revenue-gaining sports are football and men’s basketball, Egbo said.

“Most every other sport across the NCAA doesn’t generate revenue,” he said. “So going to an employment model would just pretty much deteriorate the opportunities of all these sports that probably don’t generate revenue.”

Another result of NIL now being considered employment law is that Title IX legislation is no longer required to be taken into consideration. Previously, universities had to provide the same opportunities to male and female athletic programs but no longer do.

Hannah Gonzalez, sophomore volleyball player from Lucas, said this makes sense, as unfortunate as it is for female athletics. She said she understands sports that make more money should receive more money, no matter if it is a male or female sport.

“It makes sense for schools to pay money to what brings in money,” she said. “So if football is bringing in the most money, then it makes sense that football is receiving the most money. But, for example, a school like Nebraska, where volleyball is one of their biggest sports, if it’s bringing in the most money, then give those student athletes the most money.”

Egbo said schools will have to be more intentional about giving female athletes opportunities since it is no longer required by law to do so.

“I think the biggest thing is that schools have to take the initiative to make sure that they’re highlighting and giving due attention to non-revenue generating sports, specifically their women’s sports,” he said. “There has to be more of an emphasis from institutions to push that forward.”

Gonzalez has an NIL deal as the brand ambassador for First Financial Bank, a role that belonged to Egbo during his time as a student athlete. The bank recently signed six other Wildcat athletes to NIL deals in addition to Gonzalez’s deal.

The three women are Bella Earle, senior women’s basketball player from Corinth, Lili Ross, junior soccer player from Beaumont, and Elizabeth Schaefer, junior softball player from Rockwall.

The male athletes are Bradyn Hubbard, junior men’s basketball player from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Zion Stephens, sophomore baseball player from Missouri City, and Jed Castles, junior football player from Wichita Falls.

Gonzalez said the other six were signed to deals as a group effort to introduce a new First Financial debit card, and Samantha Baker, vice president of marketing at First Financial, believed a larger group would help sell to more people.

“This particular advertising movement was that they wanted to promote the new ACU Wildcat debit card,” Gonzalez said. “But she just wanted to get a bigger audience because it is targeted towards Wildcats.”

Many people are concerned with how student athletes will have their academics impacted in this new “era of NIL,” but Weir said college athletics has faced threats to academics several times in the past.

“The ‘one and done’ basketball players, athletes who leave early for professional opportunities, the entire idea has been around for quite some time,” Weir said. “This new era of NIL will take on a new meaning, but nothing that the NCAA, the term student-athlete, or our higher education institutions haven’t faced questions about before.”

Egbo agreed this is not new for college athletics, but also said the education of these student athletes needs to be taken more seriously, especially when it comes to athletes potentially attending four schools in four years.

“I think a lot of these student athletes, a lot in the revenue-generating sports, are chasing the dollars right now,” Egbo said, “but they’re sacrificing educational experience, and it’s sacrificing the networking experience you get when you stay somewhere.”

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Taylor column: Wyoming’s Wicks not using NIL as an excuse | University of Wyoming

Published

38 minutes ago

December 26, 2025

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NIL

How to make college football worse

Published

2 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Dec. 26, 2025, 5:03 a.m. ET

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn has proposed the HUSTLE Act to create tax-deferred savings accounts for college athletes’ NIL income.
The need for congressional intervention is questionable, given that other wealthy groups, like NFL players, do not receive similar legislative protection.

If the hollowness of the bowl season or the irrationality of the playoff system has you saddened by the state of college football, it could always be worse. Congress could get involved.

It’s already bad enough that NCAA apologists want Congress to grant college athletics an antitrust exemption. Now Tennessee Senator (and gubernatorial candidate) Marsha Blackburn, in a timely act of pandering, wants to give college athletes special tax-advantaged savings accounts – “for their own protection.”

Blackburn’s comically named “Helping Undergraduate Students Thrive with Long Term Earnings (HUSTLE Act) would allow certain college athletes to create tax-deferred accounts for their Name Image and Likeness (NIL) income.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m a big fan of saving and investing, especially in a tax-deferred vehicle. But the aim of this act ‒ somehow protecting young people from squandering their NIL riches ‒ raises an obvious question: Where exactly is the constitutional mandate (or even suggestion) for Congress to pass laws discouraging 19-year-old millionaires from buying expensive cars and jewelry?

If Blackburn is genuinely concerned about young, wealthy athletes squandering their money, why didn’t she start with the NFL? A widely cited 2009 Sports Illustrated article claimed that 78% of NFL players “face financial stress or bankruptcy” within two years of retirement. This figure was likely exaggerated, but a statistically sound study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 15.7% of NFL players file for bankruptcy within 12 years of retiring. Yet this hasn’t prompted any urgent Congressional push to save professional athletes from themselves.

If age is really the determining factor in financial responsibility, why is the fastest growing demographic of bankruptcy filers over 65? Why is the median age of someone filing for bankruptcy 49 and not 29?

Blackburn could, of course, propose legislation allowing college athletes to participate in the existing tax-deferred retirement accounts at their respective universities, but that would concede that the players are employees ‒ something universities want to avoid at practically all costs.

Not to be outdone by the Senate, the House of Representatives proposed the SCORE Act, which would grant NCAA institutions exemptions from antitrust laws – essentially codifying the illegal wage collusion the schools practiced for decades ‒ while also legally declaring that players are not employees of the universities that pay for their athletic services. Too many old timers simply can’t accept the end of decades of illegal (and in my opinion, immoral) athletic department business practices, so they are begging Congress to protect them.

Even if you concede the premise that 20-year-olds are incapable of making wise financial decisions and require assistance, why would Congress be the entity to turn to for financial wisdom?

David Moon, president of Moon Capital Management, may be reached atdavid@mooncap.com.

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Chiefs Stadium Deal Is Insane

Published

3 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

stl.pony said:

Feel like it’s largely being paid for by sales tax the new stadium development will generate.

Not in finance, so someone should absolutely check my math/analysis on this.

State of Kansas has an 8.25% sales tax. For the sales tax to generate 3 billion, the total sales would need to be about 36 billion. According to this article the Royals stadium and Arrowhead stadium collectively generate 55 million a year in tax revenue. (Don’t know what the analysis is to produce that; admit it could be wrong.) If you round it up to 60 million a year, the break even point is 600+ years.

If you take the numbers the Chiefs put out, 1 billion in economic impact for the region and 29 million in tax revenue per year. The break even point from tax revenue would be 1800 years?

I don’t know what is considered the region for the economic impact evaluation and how that changes based on if the stadium is on the Missouri side or the Kansas side of Kansas City. I also remember reading a report about the state fair of Texas that claimed that events like the state fair and sporting events don’t necessarily generate additional economic activity in a region, it just concentrates it into the event rather the wider community. (Admittedly, that could mean more tax revenue for one city in the region over another.) In my layperson’s opinion, a sports stadium deal like this doesn’t seem to be as smart of a decision as offering economic incentives to a Toyota or other non-entertainment business to move to your city.

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Michigan urged to hire SEC coordinator over head coaches to replace Sherrone Moore

Published

4 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

As Michigan’s coaching search drags on, some overlooked possibilities could be floating back to the forefront. After apparently striking out on established head coaches like Kenny Dillingham and Kalen DeBoer, one SEC coordinator is exactly such a possibility for the Wolverines.

In a recent episode of Andy and Ari On3, Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman pointed out that the current coaching carousel has been virtually obsessed with established head coaches. Kentucky hired Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein as its next coach, but otherwise, schools have passed on coordinators in favor of coaches with head coaching experience.

Both Staples and Wasserman singled out Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann as a strong coaching possibility who Michigan should consider. “Why hasn’t he been in the conversation,” asked Wasserman. “He’s been intereviewed by schools, they just haven’t hired him,” noted Staples. “Normally, multiple coordinators would have either gotten these jobs or been finalists for these jobs.”

“If I were Michigan, I would hire Schumann over all the others,” said Wasserman. “I feel like if you’re Michigan, you want to get the guy that reshapes how you do things. It’s not that Jedd Fisch wouldn’t or Jeff Brohm wouldn’t….Don’t you want to go get the younger coordinator from Georgia who recruits his ass off and has been around big builds and has he defense playing like this at the right time and try to build you program around that?”

Schumann is only 35 years old, but has spent the last 17 seasons with either the Alabama or Georgia programs. He went to Alabama to be a student assistant coach under Nick Saban, then moved up to graduate assistant and then to Director of Football Operations.

When Kirby Smart left Alabama to take the Georgia head coaching job, Schumann went with him. First, he was the inside linebacker coach. In 2019, he added co-defensive coordinator to his responsibilities and ahead of 2024, he became the sole defensive coordinator

Georgia has historically been a very aggressive big-play-oriented defense, but Schumann has helped remake them on the fly. In 2025, the Bulldogs have held opponents to 15.9 points per game, second in the SEC, despite being near the bottom of the conference standings in sacks (tied for last), tackles for loss (next to last), and turnovers forced (13th).

Schumann was considered in 2023 for the Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator role, but hasn’t been significantly linked with another collegiate job. Despite his relative youth, his experience inside two of the foremost college football dynasties of recent vintage makes him an intriguing possibility, should Michigan decide to take a chance.

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No easy fix for what ails college football, but it’s still fun

Published

10 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

As much as the state of college athletics these days drives people to distraction, coaches and administrators don’t have many options.

So, you don’t like players being paid? You don’t like players have the ability to transfer to another program anytime they choose? You don’t like lawyers and agents raking in huge amounts of cash? What can unhappy fans do about it?

You can stop supporting your favorite program. You can stop going to games or even watching games. If enough people do that, what they will accomplish is making it more difficult for their favorite programs to win. They will change nothing.

Despite all of it, coaches are expected to win. Athletics directors are expected to provide the resources for them to win. They have no choice but to play the game with the rules – or lack thereof – in place today.

Is it out of control? Of course it is, in football and basketball. Will there be efforts to mitigate the damage that is being done to the sports so many love? There will be. Will they be successful? Maybe, but so far we’re not seeing it. Yet, TV ratings are higher than ever. Stadiums are filled. It’s still fun, which is what it was always meant to be.

For sure, there are some misconceptions out there.

Players, in fact, can and do sign contracts. There is nothing to keep them from signing multi-year contracts, but those are iffy for both sides. Maybe a player turns out not to be worth what he is being paid. Or maybe he turns out to be worth more than he’s being paid.

None of this is simple. It is further complicated by agents who are neither qualified nor interested in much anything beyond making money for themselves.

Maybe, one day, someone will find a solution. Maybe Congress will step in and help, though there has been no indication that is close to happening.

Players and coaches are better-trained, better-informed and more knowledgeable than they have ever been. Players are not the spoiled, entitled young men they are accused of being. They are being pulled in all sorts of directions by family, agents, boosters and others with agendas of their own.

Almost every effort to find common ground has blown up.

The December signing period was meant to give players who had made up their minds opportunities to get the recruiting process over with. Previous to that move, it was rare for players to graduate early and enroll in time for spring practice. Now, it’s what every coach wants and most players want.

NIL was supposed to be about players having opportunities to earn spending money, maybe even get a car. It was never meant to make anybody wealthy. Along came collectives, and that changed.

Penalty-free transfers were supposed to be about players having opportunities to go in search of more playing time. Instead, added to NIL, it become a monster. Without penalty-free transfers, things would be different today.

For now, if people let this destroy their love for the game, they are letting the forces of chaos win. It’s still college students – yes, they are students – playing football. And they pay a fearsome price in blood, sweat and mental challenges to do it.

Once the portal has opened and closed and rosters begin to be set, things will calm down. The focus will return to where it should be, on those who play the game and the season ahead.

***

To all of you who do us the honor of coming here to read and comment and debate, and to Ron Sanders, Nathan King, Christian Clemente, Jason Caldwell and Patrick Bingham, my valued colleagues, I wish joy, peace and love on this day.

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