George Kliavkoff proposes major changes to NIL, raises concerns about student-athletes as employees

The NIL conversation continues to take new turns. The idea of student-athletes becoming employees has come up, and Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff discussed the issue head-on at Pac-12 Media Day on Friday.

Kliavkoff express his concerns about NIL and the idea of student-athletes as employees. With the advent of NIL and the transfer portal, comparisons keep rolling in between the college level and the NFL. In fact, Michigan State coach Mel Tucker compared recruiting to the NFL Draft and free agency earlier this week.

Kliavkoff opened Pac-12 Media Days by calling for “guardrails” around NIL — a common sentiment across college football this offseason.

“With respect to name, image and likeness, I believe it is time for the 10 FBS conferences to step in and agree to NIL legislation and a strong, effective and expeditious enforcement mechanism,” Kliavkoff said. “All 10 conferences are strongly in favor of student-athletes being able to benefit from their NIL. But we also need three simple and obvious guardrails: NIL should not be used as an inducement. NIL should not be used as pay-for-play. And the amount earned as NIL payments should be commiserate what the NIL provided and not a veiled inducement or pay-for-play. These are current NCAA rules that the NCAA has unfortunately chosen not to enforce in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Alston. Recodifying and enforcing these three simple NIL rules will protect our student-athletes while still allowing them to earn.

“Second, it’s time for us to consider steps we can take to fairly recognize our student-athletes’ contributions and more appropriately allocate the resources created through athletics without fundamentally changing the role of our educational institutions. While I do not believe that our student-athletes should be treated as employees, we must recognize and meaningfully address the extraordinary ways in which they contribute to our athletic programs, campuses and communities. One solution might be to consider whether to expand or remove the remaining caps on academic awards. Whatever solutions are considered, there are many reasons why treating student-athletes as employees would be detrimental.”

George Kliavkoff: ‘We are committed to finding an appropriate solution’ for NIL concerns

Kliavkoff also alluded to Tucker’s comparison to the draft and free agency, but added professionalizing college sports won’t help things. Still, he thinks officials will find a solution.

“There could be a draft system, and athletes would lose the choice of which school to attend,” Kliavkoff said. “They could lose their ability to transfer between schools. In fact, professional athletes are typically subject to trades or being fired for poor performance. It’s hard to imagine that professional athletes would be required or even allowed to attend school to earn degrees.

“I am also concerned about what happens to our broad-based athletic offerings when a school’s athletic department becomes so dramatically altered that its primary interests are tied to professional sports and not education. We are committed to finding an appropriate solution, and I believe the time to start engaging in these conversations with our student-athletes has arrived.”