A transfer climate spiraling out of control prompted the new regulatory body for college sports to issue a memo to athletic directors Friday night saying it has “serious concerns” about some of the multimillion-dollar contracts being offered to players.
The “reminder” from the College Sports Commission came out about an hour before kickoff of the Peach Bowl semifinal between Indiana and Oregon in a College Football Playoff that has shared headlines with news of players signing seven-figure deals to move or, in some cases, stay where they are.
The CSC reminded the athletic directors that, according to the rules, third-party deals to use players’ name, image and likeness “are evaluated at the time of entry in NIL Go, not before, and each deal is evaluated on its own merits.”
“Without prejudging any particular deal, the CSC has serious concerns about some of the deal terms being contemplated and the consequences of those deals for the parties involved,” the memo read.
Under terms of the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit settlement that dictated the rules for NIL payments, schools can share revenue with their players directly from a pool of $20.5 million. Third-party deals, often arranged by businesses created to back the schools, are being used as workarounds to this de facto salary cap.