Alright you law people out there (and I know there are quite a few), is it time for legal action in the way of a class action lawsuit to put a stop or at least some rules on this NIL garbage that is destroying the ability of the "small universities" that can't compete with the "large universities"? Anybody can look down the road and see where this is going. Right now it's all about who offers the most NIL money for a college athlete and I can tell you Wyoming is way down in the bottom half of the list of this bidding war. There are only a couple of choices for us here in Wyoming. We aren't the only small university in the country facing this.
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College Sports Inequality - the Elephant in the room
- Thread starter WYCowboy
- Start date
Even Saban is warning how destructive this is for college football. I would argue this will ultimately be the downfall of college football as more teams are going to become irrelevant in the college football landscape and as fan interest wanes so will the money. Once it hurts the sport in the pocket book, that's when things will finally change.
Large school vs small school would go nowhere in court. All I can see happening is schools like Wyoming offering scholarship contracts with buyouts or something of that nature to prevent kids from leaving to bigger schools with no compensation. At this point I think college football is fucked.
ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
Reality is that NIL will only impact a select few players on WYO roster. Most of our transfers have been lateral or worse moves. It will hurt if we ever get top talent because they will leave. However, the new transfer rules are more important. With the 1 time transfer, we'd lose top talent, regardless.
NIL will likely drive the emergence of new powerhouses or reemergence of sleeping giants. That is why Saban doesn't like it. I think it effects the P5 much more than us.
I'd like to see them implement a rule that you need to pass x # credits at your university before you can see playing time. You aren't restricting transfer, just promoting academics. True freshman can play in 4 games under an exemption.
NIL will likely drive the emergence of new powerhouses or reemergence of sleeping giants. That is why Saban doesn't like it. I think it effects the P5 much more than us.
I'd like to see them implement a rule that you need to pass x # credits at your university before you can see playing time. You aren't restricting transfer, just promoting academics. True freshman can play in 4 games under an exemption.
flyfishwyo
Well-known member
The first thing to do is take away non-profit status for college athletics. That'll do more toward leveling the playing field than anything else.
NIL isn't sustainable the way it's set up now. It'll end up causing a bunch of problems for the kids. They'll get in trouble for not paying taxes, or transfer and get sued by a "customer." Or a kid will get booted from the team for a rules violation (or get injured) and a customer will want their money back.
Another potential problem with NIL is that the players' ability to profit is due largely to their position as a player on a specific team. It won't be long until some school demands a cut (Jacksonville State?).
NIL isn't sustainable the way it's set up now. It'll end up causing a bunch of problems for the kids. They'll get in trouble for not paying taxes, or transfer and get sued by a "customer." Or a kid will get booted from the team for a rules violation (or get injured) and a customer will want their money back.
Another potential problem with NIL is that the players' ability to profit is due largely to their position as a player on a specific team. It won't be long until some school demands a cut (Jacksonville State?).
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
WYCowboy said:
Haha it was an anti-trust suit which is the reason we have NIL money. The NCAA recently lost Alston v. NCAA where the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that it violated federal anti-trust law for the NCAA to profit off players' likeness and performance (i.e. NCAA games and media deals) while at the same time restricting the players themselves from profiting off their own likeness. Any rules restricting NIL money likely puts the NCAA in square violation of the Sherman Act and the NCAA facing billions in fines...this cat isn't going back into the bag. Wyoming needs to adjust to the new reality.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
Wikipedia Case Summary:
National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, 594 U.S. ___ (2021), was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the compensation of collegiate athletes within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It followed from a previous case, O'Bannon v. NCAA, in which it was found that the NCAA was profiting from the namesake and likenesses of college athletes. The case dealt with the NCAA's restrictions on providing college athletes with non-cash compensation for academic-related purposes, such as computers and internships, which the NCAA maintained was to prevent the appearance that the student athletes were being paid to play or treated as professional athletes. Lower courts had ruled that these restrictions were in violation of antitrust law, which the Supreme Court affirmed in a unanimous ruling in June 2021.
National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, 594 U.S. ___ (2021), was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the compensation of collegiate athletes within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It followed from a previous case, O'Bannon v. NCAA, in which it was found that the NCAA was profiting from the namesake and likenesses of college athletes. The case dealt with the NCAA's restrictions on providing college athletes with non-cash compensation for academic-related purposes, such as computers and internships, which the NCAA maintained was to prevent the appearance that the student athletes were being paid to play or treated as professional athletes. Lower courts had ruled that these restrictions were in violation of antitrust law, which the Supreme Court affirmed in a unanimous ruling in June 2021.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
flyfishwyo said:
Every adult that accepts income and doesn't claim it on their taxes faces the same punishment. If a player accepts any NIL money, then that player better know that NIL money is taxable income and failure to report it can result in tax fines and punishment.
Acceptance of NIL money is also the formulation of a contract between the player and the NIL money provider. The terms of that contract are governed by the contract itself and contract law.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
McPeachy said:
If a player fails to report their NIL money as gross income, then that is on them and they may be liable both civilly and criminally. Players are adults. These are the same rules that apply to business professionals and pizza delivery drivers too.
bladerunnr
Well-known member
OrediggerPoke said:
Do you think this is the first step? Using the term "amateur" to refer to college athletes seems like it will be the next shoe to fall. I understand amateur rules as it used to pertain to the olympics. But I don't know of any sport where professionals are excluded any longer. Not paying a kid because it violates "amateur" rules may make some sense for some sports (tennis or golf), but there are very few amateur football leagues that I know about. Direct payment for players looks like the next step.
And, I think I'm agreement with many of you that this will ultimately kill college football.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
bladerunnr said:
I actually think it is the likely demise of the NCAA for certain revenue sports amongst money making programs. Why would a school like Ohio State or Alabama need to involve the NCAA from a regulatory standpoint and pay the NCAA (to basically share with the have nots) when the bigger schools can keep all of the money for themselves and pay the players directly? I personally believe we will ultimately see a 'super league' for football and basketball that does not have NCAA oversight. I don't believe Wyoming stands any chance of being a part of that super league and thus Wyoming and the majority of smaller programs will remain relatively 'amateur' status while the big boys ultimately create their own structure where players are either independent contractors or employees. For sports like swimming, tennis, etc...I think those sports are ultimately in the most trouble because it is football and basketball that mostly subsidize those sports.
From a player's perspective, this is probably good for football and basketball but terrible for the non revenue sports. Change will be coming.
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
McPeachy said:OrediggerPoke said:
Yep! And as such, should be adult enough to take some Sh#t, like we all do!
I agree.
I do suspect that some programs will be wise to have tax and financial professionals on staff going forward to assist their players.
ragtimejoe1
Well-known member
There's several NIL management companies now and financial/tax services are part of the package. Some Universities have already partnered with a NIL management group.
LanderPoke
Well-known member
laxwyo said:
Agree. It's almost going to be purely a professional venture for many kids at the big schools. Why should they have to go to class?
OrediggerPoke
Well-known member
I agree. No point to it. But let’s be honest, many of them at those schools aren’t really going to class now. They get put into a couple BS online courses that require nothing more than signing the attendance sheet.LanderPoke said:
