Alabama head coach Nick Saban led a group of coaches to Washington, D.C., this week to discuss regulating the NIL.
As those may recall, the NIL allows college athlete to profit off their name, image, and likeness. But many coaches like Saban and LSU head coach Brian Kelly think it has gotten out of hand without regulation, and something needs to be done about it.
Saban and Kelly met with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who spoke about his take on the NIL.
“For all of us who love college athletics, it is important that we have strong student-athlete protections and consistent rules for NIL deals,” Scalise, R-Jefferson, said.
“Now that NIL deals are here to stay, we don’t want college athletics to become the Wild West with 50 different sets of rules, so we have a growing bipartisan group of members of Congress who have come together to draft legislation that would create a national standard with protections for student-athletes and transparency for universities,” he added.
Saban had even said a few weeks ago that maybe college athletics should follow the NFL model of having a salary cap for the NIL.
A new law regarding the NIL is on the table now.
The Fairness Accountability and Integrity in Representation of College Sports Act, or FAIR College Sports Act, is still in draft form. However, it would prohibit team boosters from offering inducements to play for particular colleges and require agents of NIL propositions to register and report their transactions.
It will be interesting to see if this law passes the House and the Senate.
{NOLA.com}
