During the 2009 Senior Day celebrations in Missouri, Kurtis Gregory had a big revelation. The fifth-year offensive lineman is finishing his career as a happy, smiling native son of Show-Me State whose parents never missed a game. Simultaneously…
“I had teammates, and that was the first game their parents came to see them play. It was heartbreaking,” said Gregory, who is now the Missouri state representative. “I have teammates who will send… 75% [their scholarship] The money is home – they live on someone else’s couch. Their families need more money home than they need in Colombia. “
Last week, Gregory rushed a last-minute amendment to loosen the state’s name, image and likeness laws in hopes of further compensating athletes, delivering the memory last week as inspiration. In a move that should resonate with the SEC to the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis, a proposed bill would allow any athletic department official — including coaches — to assist in a NIL deal.
After passing the Missouri House and Senate on Friday — less than a day before the end of this year’s legislative session — SB 718 is now only waiting for Gov. Mike Parson’s signature to become law.
“I want Missouri to have the best players,” said Gregory, now a farmer who grows corn, soybeans and wheat on 1,100 acres in the western half of the state.
This is evident in this competitive NIL era. This is also evident in the increasingly liberalized NIL space.In fact, a week later NCAA Crackdown on NIL Policyrifts have appeared on the association’s initiative.
“It’s not a big deal other than reiterating expectations,” said attorney Jason Montgomery, who made headlines last week in an attempt by the NCAA to retain some authority in the NIL field. “NCAA Interim First Principles [NIL] The policy is that you must obey the laws of your state. This suggests that if a state has the ability to do so, the NCAA has no ability to enforce any restrictions. “
This roughly sums up the climate that is missed in the blink of an eye. Missouri is expected to be the latest state to expand NIL opportunities beyond the NCAA rulebook.
Late last month, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill that significantly expands the powers of the NIL. It allows interaction between groups, coaches and athletes. The NCAA won’t take that well, and last week they opted for the collective. Specifically, the law means that Knoxville-based Spyre Sports Group, which is overseeing an $8 million contract for a potential client considered quarterback Nico Iamaleava, will no longer be banned from interacting with the state.
Existing laws in Louisiana and Illinois are in the process of being amended to allow boosters to participate. Illinois currently has one of the more restrictive NIL laws in the country. It’s not going to happen anytime soon.
“In a way, it’s a race to the bottom,” said Montgomery, a former NCAA investigator and partner at Husch Blackwell in Kansas City, Missouri, who specializes in enforcement, eligibility and compliance issues.
For those familiar with recent history, this pattern reflects how states have used their legislative power to spread NIL rights within their states. The original California NIL Act, introduced in December 2020, raised a serious threat from the NCAA. Other states quickly copied its version. The NCAA realized it couldn’t act like whack-a-mole trying to challenge the law state by state, and it was too late.
In February, Alabama repealed its NIL law because it was deemed more restrictive than the NCAA’s meager standards. If you’ve noticed that a lot of this activity is popping up from SEC schools, you’re not alone.
“[The Missouri amendment] It’s more of a response to looking at some of the other SEC state schools a) repealing their language entirely or b) the real catalyst was Tennessee making the same changes that we did,” Gregory said.
He added: “When you have millions thrown at TV contracts, commercials, ticket sales and donors, the reason is [money] What happens is the performance on the field. Performance on the field comes from great coaches and great players. “
This starts on July 1, 2021, when NCAA only provides rough guidelines In the coming tsunami of player compensation. Here we go again, as states tweak their laws and the NCAA has been largely undermined in enforcing its own rules.
The association technically prohibits coaches and schools from trading NIL for athletes, but was quick to declare last July that athletes were allowed to “engage in NIL activities protected by state law.” To stop these transactions, law enforcement must identify violations. There have been no meaningful moves in this direction since NIL debuted 10.5 months ago. As Montgomery said, state law usually supersedes NCAA rules.
“It’s lifting those handcuffs,” said Senator Patrick Connick of Louisiana, whose amendment removed language that states schools “may not use boosters … to promote opportunities for compensation.”
The NCAA has long banned boosters from participating. Boosters may not pay players directly or be part of the college recruiting process. The NCAA defines a booster as a “representative of a school’s athletic interest.”
Once a person is designated as such a representative, they “retain that status forever,” according to the NCAA. In the past, the NCAA has interpreted the definition broadly to punish schools.
“You have boosters who live and die for the colleges they represent,” Connick said. “Some of them are very successful men and women who want these students to promote their businesses. If they do things the right way, I think they are one of them and need to do it.”
“When you have millions of dollars thrown at TV contracts, commercials, ticket sales and donors, the reason is [money] What happens is the performance on the field. Performance on the field comes from great coaches and great players. “
At the SEC — to the surprise of a few — the relaxation of NIL barriers is becoming as competitive as hiring itself.
“We pay the coaches [Eli] Drinkwitz makes $4 million a year,” Gregory said. “We want him to succeed and win football games. If he’s going to be at a competitive disadvantage in hiring because of our state laws, I want to make sure to give him all the competitive advantages he can have. If we don’t want to do that, let’s just turn it off and be happy with mediocrity. “
One of the biggest complaints of the NIL era hardly made any noise: tampering. The NCAA calls it “unacceptable contact” between coaches/schools and transfers — an incentive to change programs. But sources told CBS Sports that not many such cases have been handled — either before or after the NIL hit — because tampering is hard to prove.
Example: If USC quarterback Caleb Williams threw Pittsburgh wide receiver Jordan Addison out to West, it wouldn’t be a violation.If USC coach Lincoln Riley directed Williams to lure Addison, then Will is a violation. The question remains: how do you prove it?
All of this is a glimpse into what federal oversight of the NIL might look like.
Some lawmakers, commissioners and athletic executives have long warned of the downsides of congressional oversight of the NIL. It doesn’t necessarily end with an antitrust immunity so that the NCAA doesn’t get sued for making meaningful NIL rules. Like the Missouri bill, there are other parts to negotiate that may not be related to college sports.
In other words, do you really want Congress to host big college sports? Some of the lawmakers involved in these state laws will also be involved at the federal level.
“It’s possible that someone is abusing the system,” Connick said. “I want the NCAA to work with Congress and unify [rules] So everyone can be on the playing field. “
Another option: this is the new normal.
Gregory was terrified of having to deal with the players’ union.
Connick was asked if fans care about how much players are paid if everything else, including the zero chance, remains competitive.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think it’s more for entertainment.”
