NCAA NIL meetings to conclude Wednesday without a new policy unveiled

As expected, two days of NIL meetings will conclude Wednesday afternoon at NCAA headquarters without the announcement of a new policy to govern the ever-evolving NIL space.

Lynda Tealer, chair of the NCAA Division I Council, told On3 in an email there won’t be any new policy released today, nor an official summary of the meetings, which include a wide swath of industry leaders as well as an undisclosed number of student-athletes. Sources told On3 that Wednesday’s meetings featured a five-hour working session.

Tealer’s comments confirm what sources had told On3 in recent weeks – that this week’s meeting served as the next step in an incremental process toward drafting a new policy. The announcement of a new proposal was not expected to be made this week.

“The goal here is really to hear from various stakeholders in the membership about their experiences in the NIL space and any thoughts on how we move forward to improve the current landscape,” said Tealer, who is also the executive associate athletics director for administration at Florida. “The work of the NIL working group will continue, informed by what we’ve heard from these meetings.”

The NIL working group has been tasked with drafting an updated proposal, essentially a Plan B, in case the NCAA’s pursuit of a long-sought federal reform bill falls short. The NCAA Division I Council received an update on the subcommittee’s work during meetings attended by President Charlie Baker in Indianapolis on June 27 and 28. The purpose of this week’s meetings was to solicit feedback from a broader audience of industry experts.

Drafting an updated NIL policy does not reflect an NCAA strategy pivot, a source with direct knowledge of the meetings told On3. Rather, the association will operate on two parallel tracks, pursuing a new policy as it continues to aggressively lobby federal lawmakers for legislation. 

‘Responsibility is on all of us’ to figure NIL out

This week’s meetings are occurring as movement is afoot on several important fronts in the two-year-old NIL space. 

New school-friendly state NIL laws in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Montana, Arkansas and New York have, football coaches say, created competitive advantages for in-state schools while clashing with existing NCAA guidelines related to donor-driven collectives. The laws also prohibit the NCAA from policing some NIL activity.

A flurry of disparate federal bill proposals has been unveiled in recent weeks. Baker said a registry of NIL deals, a certification process for agents and a uniform NIL standard are among the association’s priorities. The NCAA wants a federal NIL bill that preempts the patchwork of state NIL laws. And Baker, the former Massachusetts governor, said last month he ideally would like to see a federal bill passed by the end of the calendar year.

But with the election cycle around the corner, stakeholders know that the clock is ticking. A growing number of prominent college sports leaders – including Big 12 Conference Commissioner Brett Yormark, AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco, Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione and North Carolina AD Bubba Cunningham – told On3 that the time is now to craft a Plan B. 

Castiglione said: “The responsibility is on all of us to figure this out.”

Aresco: “We should be the ones to put forth a plan – period.”

The increasing calls for a Plan B are a realization, as summer soon turns to fall, that a federal bill, as Yormark said, is “not a slam dunk.”