Florida fallout

For those curious how the Florida legislature came seemingly out of nowhere to pass a delay in the state’s NIL law taking affect, here’s a brief blow by blow:

Critics of the amendment describe it as a nifty political maneuver by high-ranking members of the Florida legislature, burying the NIL date change in a clutter of alterations to legislation governing charter schools, two days before the Florida legislative session ends.

The amendment was introduced in the Florida Senate by Sen. Travis Hutson on Wednesday around 2:30 p.m. Six hours later, it passed both chambers without any real debate over the two consequential lines in the 71-page tome changing the NIL law effective date.

Heitner and others contend that the NIL language was so buried that many lawmakers weren’t aware it even existed. Hidden among the amendment’s 20,000 words, on the seventh line of Page 66, are the two lines, the first citing Florida’s NIL law and the second changing the effective date.

Effective upon this act becoming a law, section of chapter 2020–28, Laws of Florida, is amended to read:

This act shall take effect July 1, 2022 2021.

In an interview on Thursday morning, Hutson says leaders of each of Florida’s chambers agreed to insert the NIL change into the amendment based on information from the Florida legislature’s education staff. The staff alerted lawmakers that the NCAA could punish Florida athletes for using a state law that, in some cases, differs from impending NCAA rules.

Sounds kosher to me.

However, NCAA president Mark Emmert told a group of athletes earlier this month that he would not punish athletes who earn NIL compensation by following their state law.

“If he puts something on paper, that would give us relief,” Hutson says.

I’m sure Mark Emmert will get right on it for you guys.

Meanwhile, the reaction from the state’s college football coaches was immediate and negative.

The state of Florida needs to enact NIL legislation in 2021, as was originally planned. We need to do what’s best for our student-athletes.

— Dan Mullen (@CoachDanMullen) April 29, 2021

There is no reason to wait to do the right thing

The state of Florida was a leader on NIL and, as other states quickly tried to follow our model, college athletes in Florida have been able to position themselves to be ready to benefit starting July 1, 2021#KeepTheDate

— Mike Norvell (@Coach_Norvell) April 29, 2021

This is unacceptable. @GovRonDeSantis must use his veto power to fix this. While the rest of the states are moving forward to follow OUR lead, we inexcusably take a giant step backwards…. https://t.co/NRATzBCjOk

— Manny Diaz (@Coach_MannyDiaz) April 29, 2021

NIL changes are coming in the very near future. Here at UCF, we will continue to help our student-athletes in building their personal brands and capitalizing on their opportunities.

We are hopeful that the state’s original plan will stay on track in implementing these changes.

— Coach Gus Malzahn (@CoachGusMalzahn) April 29, 2021

Pretty strong stuff.  But the legislature was just being prudent, fellas!

“We did not want our student athletes, if this law went into effect, to start profiting off NIL and potentially lose scholarships from the NCAA,” Hutson says. “We decided to do a one-year hold. It was an abundance of caution. We want our kids to profit from the NIL and that’s something we’re passionate about, but not at the chance they could lose the right to play.”

Seeing the outright panic from Florida college coaches and players about the snuck-in change to their NIL bill tells me that there may be a boat load of players who are suddenly going to be ineligible for talking to agents https://t.co/iFNH9AuI9o

— PodKATT (@valleyshook) April 29, 2021

Now wouldn’t that be ironic?  There isn’t enough popcorn in the world to sustain me while watching the fallout from that happening.

***********************************************************************

UPDATE:  Gosh, this didn’t take long.

NEWS in the Florida NIL saga: A bill has been proposed in the state senate to amend language in a previous bill and restore the July 1, 2021 effective date, per documents. pic.twitter.com/t14ZUNL1fx

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) April 30, 2021

In the South, state senator ranks lower than head football coach in the food chain.

***********************************************************************

UPDATE #2:  Weirder and weirder…

An interesting wrinkle in all of this is that there's a new amendment likely to be passed that will essentially require Florida schools to leave the NCAA if the NCAA tries to punish schools for Florida's NIL laws. pic.twitter.com/RyW9S5vQ00

— Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) April 30, 2021