Georgia’s assistant athletic director for football compliance has a few things he’d like you to know about NIL.
While I don’t think there are a lot of surprises on the list of dos and don’ts, there is one of the latter that might be a little tricky to implement in the real world.
There’s a fine line between promoting the support for a college athlete’s NIL activities as part of recruiting and what can’t be done there. How close will Smart push things and how much room will compliance give him to do so should be an interesting tug.
Get The Picture 
This is going to be one of those Ready-Fire-Aim things. He should’ve ended the letter with “Consider yourself warned. My work here is done.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Which rules actually apply? The Georgia law, the NCAA “look the other way” position, or UGAAA compliance policy? Old men with money to burn really want to know.
LikeLike
I would presume all three, each enforced by each respective institution, with whatever resources, incentives, and consequences that that institution brings to bear on the situation. But with loopholes like a six flags rollercoaster, it seems hard to imagine a scenario where you can’t find a permissible way to pay whoever you want however much you want.
LikeLike
Are the players under any obligation to disclose their sponsors or their compensation to the AD?
LikeLike
So many questions… So few answers. The NCAA has basically washed its hands of the NIL. Schools will be smart to do the same. No win situation.
LikeLike
And the days of players not being represented (either collectively or individually) is right around the corner.
College football is on a slippery slope to somewhere!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am not a union guy, but IMO having an association to represent all college athletes is probably be the only thing that could get us out of this mess, and maybe save college football and basketball. And it would be good for all of college sports. Collective bargaining between the NCAA and such an association would allow for common sense “guardrails” on not only NIL but stipends, insurance, time limits, expanded playoffs, and all manner of sticky issues. The players would have a true seat at the table, but the NCAA would likely come out ahead in terms of law suits and compliance, and it might actually get that antitrust exemption. Better to bargain with a single entity proactively vs. Doing nothing due to internal squabbling or scrambling reactively to court defeats. It is just a matter of time before some state allows the athletes at their universities to unionize, if not a federal court. The clock is ticking, the NCAA would do well to encourage an NCAAPA.
LikeLike
The NCAA rule only says student-athletes should report based on state law or school/conference requirements.
https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/ncaa-adopts-interim-name-image-and-likeness-policy
LikeLike
If there are no such obligations, it might on the one hand help keep the volume of NLI income from being a recruiting talking point. On the other hand, it may make any abuses of the rules impossible to police.
LikeLike
I think that ship has sailed!
LikeLike
I agree. With all the time the NCAA spent fighting the fight (regardless of where you believe the fight is justified or necessary), they could have spent the time coming up with a thoughtful solution that included all of this.
It’s almost like the NCAA is taking the approach for it to be as bad as possible, so they can use it for the legislative relief they desire.
As the Senator puts it sometimes, that’s a hell of a way to run a railroad.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Its my theory. Let it become a mess and beg Congress for the authority to clean it up. You know, for the children.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m sure the NCAA’s legal people are saying to Emmert and the suits in Indianapolis that the Alston decision officially ties their hands on all of this until settled in the halls of Congress.
LikeLike
I thought it said they had up to 30 days to do so, depending on the value of the deal. Nowhere described are penalties for failure to disclose, however.
LikeLike
Per the same email the Senator referenced, yes, disclosure is required.
LikeLike
Over and under on how long before the Complacence Official is fired.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Keeping up with the Jones’s…when the first individual gets shown the door for not complying, you’ll hear the screaming “well so and so did it, why can’t we”…
LikeLiked by 1 person
At Butts-Mehre? EVERYBODY working in staff positions there are Complacence Officials!
LikeLike
It’s pretty lame that Kirby can’t retweet a kid’s tweet or post in support of what he’s doing.
The bigger issue I saw though was that the players still can’t sign jerseys or helmets. So AJ and Gurley would still be in trouble with the NCAA? Nice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That makes absolutely no sense. I can pay them to sign a picture in which they are wearing said jersey or helmet but can’t get them to sign a jersey or helmet I personally purchased. Just dumb.
LikeLike
They can’t just do that on their own either, unless they request from the school and obtain the rights to do so.
LikeLike
Hmm. I get that to sign a bunch of pictures that a memorabilia dealer is going to resell. If the picture is my personal property that I paid for (or a photograph I took personally), I can’t pay the student-athlete to sign it. Another thing that makes zero sense.
LikeLike
Agreed
LikeLike
This whole situation has litigation written all over it. Limitations on an individual’s ability to do what they want in their free time are just not going to stand up to legal scrutiny.
LikeLike
They could have done it but decided to fight it out in court instead. Alston might have been narrowly written on education-related limits, but its impact will be much more far-reaching as it’s quoted as precedent.
LikeLiked by 1 person
While the water might be murky on the cans and cannots, Im am sure even being retired that McGoofy has phoned in a few ways to penalize our team.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So, in other words, Josh passed the heat onto Matt. Got it!
LikeLike
It’s truly the wild west. On one hand I’m glad they can earn money signing autographs and what not. On the other, I’m pretty saddened that it’s basically a bidding war for new recruits.
Some will say that’s it’s always been that way. Well maybe. But now it’s definitely that way…
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s not going to be just about the money any more than a normal job is about money. It’s still going to be about relationships with coaches, fit, getting to the NFL, location, etc. Money will be one factor among several (as it already was).
LikeLike
Well you have more faith than I do when it comes to 17 year old recruits that come from impoverished homes…
We will see anyway.
LikeLike
Or, I read what the kids say about their recruitment decision instead of making paternalistic assumptions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I understand the “why’s and reasons” for the kids to be banned from wearing official school attire when and if they are making an appearance for their own benefit.
What bothers me is that being on the 2 deep at an SEC school in football is like a musician winning an audition to be a full time member of the Atlanta Symphony. It’s a huge accomplishment, very strong “I made it” moment for the kid and his family, and, they can’t capitalize on it. If I were the 3rd trumpet player for the ASO while I was a student at UGA I would have my pick of teaching private lessons to the best in the state, the best gigs in the area, instruments given to me to endorse, offers to master class, there’s no end to it and no rules either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Senator, I’d love to see a reader comment thread with questions along the following lines:
As a businessperson (owner or person with some decision-making power), if you had $X to spend for advertising/promotion (say $1,000? not necessarily all to the same player), who would you contract, and why?
As a Georgia fan, if you had $X to spend (say $500?) for personal services (say a birthday wishes video, or whatever floats your boat), who would you spend it on and why?
Is anyone on here actually going to arrange an NIL deal? Who you got and why?
(Anyone responding to #3 should maybe be politely requested to review the guidelines before posting, though a Stringer Bell gif may be overkill.)
LikeLike