NCAA reviewing Oregon for relationship to third-party NIL program

According to a report by Daniel Libit of Sportico, the NCAA is investigating the Oregon Ducks for its relationship to a third-party NIL program. Oregon is one of at least three schools that are currently being investigated for NIL infractions.

As things currently stand, the NCAA is simply gathering information on Oregon’s NIL partnerships. It is not a formal infractions investigation at this point, according to Libit.

“For now, the NCAA’s NIL fact-finding has stopped short of a formal infractions investigation, and there is an open question as to whether the association would want to risk additional litigation and public backlash by punishing a school over setups that are seen to improve the livelihoods of athletes,” Libit said.

“UO has been at the national NIL vanguard, launching an on-campus program in October, dubbed Oregon Accelerator, which is designed to help athletes tap into promotional resources from the university’s business and journalism schools. That in-house initiative received financial backing from Barbara Blangiara, an Oregon alumnus and executive at Fox Sports.”

Via Libit, Oregon senior associate athletic director Jimmy Stanton said that Oregon is complying with the NCAA as they seek information about the Ducks’ NIL process.

The NCAA is also currently reviewing BYU and Miami for NIL related reasons as well.

The NCAA’s investigation is to ensure Oregon is not partaking in “pay for play” NIL arrangements

In July, the NCAA began allowing college athletes to sign NIL deals to be able to profit off of their Name, Image, and Likeness. But the NCAA is looking to avoid schools from paying players, directly or indirectly, as a means to get them to play for their program. The NCAA’s investigation of Oregon is to ensure that is not going on.

The “pay for play” idea is something that could have extremely negative impacts on college sports. Alabama football head coach Nick Saban chimed in on the NIL debate ahead of last week’s national championship game, calling for national legislation on NIL dealings.

“Name, image & likeness is a positive thing for players,” Saban said. “They’ve got the opportunity to earn money. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. What is concerning is how is that’s used to get players to decide where they’re going to school. I don’t think that was the intention.

“We need some kind of national legislation to control that,” Saban suggested. “There will be an imbalance as to who dominates college football if it isn’t regulated.”