Top 3 Things you would do to “fix” this NIL craziness.

We know there’s no perfect answer and each solution probably leads to 2 more problems. But here are my Top 3

1. Set limits and caps: You likely won’t be able to govern what an athlete truly earns from NIL deals, but you can set a limit on what schools and collectives can pay and how much they can be involved. Ex: NFL has a salary cap but Patrick Mahomes can go do as many state farm commercials as he likes bc the company sees value in advertising with him based on his performance and brand. THAT is true NIL. The fans aren’t paying for that.

2. Contracts and performance incentives. These kids want pro like dollars but not pro like responsibilities. That’s BS. Make the NIL deals contracts with performance incentives and let them earn those dollars over time. Flip side is if your performance sucks, your NIL deals and your scholarship can also be revoked. Michael Jordan once said it best…you’re paying these kids off of potential before they ever do anything so if they get that money so easy, there’s no incentive to work hard.

3. Transfer portal limits: tied to #2. If you are under contract then you cannot enter the transfer portal for x # of years. After that, it’s free agency. But if a school wants to “buy” you before your contract is up, they need to reimburse the current school the cost of the contract (or what’s remaining).

Realize that all of these pretty much signal the end of amateurism and the “student” in student athlete… But if we are heading down that path anyway might as well put some structure to it now.