Eli Drinkwitz says Missouri's new NIL law is 'in the best interest in the state of Missouri'

The current state of the NIL landscape is a source of contention among many college coaches, who view it as anything but a level playing field in the sport. Missouri’s new NIL law has drawn particular scrutiny.

The state has turned into a hotbed of discussion given its new NIL laws, which enable college coaches to engage in NIL discussions with prospective athletes and allows athletes that sign with an in-state school to collect right away.

Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said Wednesday that the law is in the best interest of the state.

“Our governor and state legislature felt like they did what was in the best interest in the citizens of their state or residents of their state,” Drinkwitz said. “I can’t fault them for that.”

Many coaches have bemoaned the Missouri new NIL law, which they view as putting their own programs at a competitive disadvantage. Drinkwitz, though, defended the state for operating in its best interests.

“Yeah I can’t predict the future on what other states are going to do, I can just comment on what our state legislature did, which was in the best interest in the state of Missouri,” he said.

“If we’re going to talk about competitive advantages, I don’t think anybody’s budgets across the league are standardized or uniform. NIL, nothing standardized or uniform across the league. Until there’s a uniform rule or a standard rule in place, then every institution and university, as well as state, is privileged to do what they believe is in the best interest of their student-athletes and their citizens.”

Drinkwitz did state that he believed there are some misconceptions about Missouri’s new NIL law, though he didn’t offer what those might be on an SEC teleconference call on Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of misnomers about our state law, just because the reality of it is Twitter, message boards don’t always operate in facts,” Drinkwitz said. “I think further research would indicate that I think that we’re doing things that are really good for student-athletes and the residents of this state, which ultimately is what our elected officials are supposed to do.”

Reporters attempted to further follow up on Drinkwitz’s comments about the Missouri new NIL law, but he shut it down.

With a season opener coming up, the Missouri coach preferred to focus on that.

“I don’t pay attention to it. I’m focused on playing South Dakota,” Drinkwitz said. “The time for talking about NIL legislation and all that is past. This is a phone call about us playing South Dakota and our football team. I’m willing to answer any questions y’all want to about that. If we’re in the bye week or y’all want to come to the press conference and ask these questions, that’s great.

“But this is about us playing South Dakota and us playing them, so any questions directed toward that I’ll be happy to answer.”