Legal lasso: reigning in the NIL “Wild West”

The free-for-all NIL market that college athletes have gotten used to for the past four years is likely ending. The NCAA recently agreed to settle for nearly $3 billion in an antitrust lawsuit, the payout of which will go to current and former collegiate athletes. The NCAA’s framework involves establishing a clearinghouse to review NIL deals for legitimacy, eliminating scholarship limits in favor of team roster limits and forcing Power Five schools to cough up tens of millions of dollars each year. How the stipulations will play out in practice given that just a handful of athletic departments turn a profit each year is still up in the air. At the same time, the case progression has hit a snag, as the presiding judge has asked the NCAA to clarify multiple points before moving forward. In a case that almost certainly will reshape the landscape of  ...