The End of the NLI? So now what?

[BRsoftballDad]

Breaking News: NCAA Eliminates National Letter of Intent Program (Oct. 9, 2024)

Breaking News: NCAA Eliminates National Letter of Intent Process (Oct. 9, 2024) By Brentt Eads October 9, 2024 Breaking News: NCAA Eliminates Nat

linedrivemedia.com

So now what? A verbal commitment is good enough? No pomp? No circumstance? I don't know how I feel about this because my DD was supposed to sign in November. We pre-ordered the balloons and everything.

 

[Thunder17]

They have to come out with something else to tie the athlete to the school. As someone mentioned, something else will take its place that will talk about he scholarship, academic money, etc. But there will be something for our kids to sign this year until something more permanent comes out.

 

[Orange Socks]

Breaking News: NCAA Eliminates National Letter of Intent Program (Oct. 9, 2024)

Breaking News: NCAA Eliminates National Letter of Intent Process (Oct. 9, 2024) By Brentt Eads October 9, 2024 Breaking News: NCAA Eliminates Nat

linedrivemedia.com

So now what? A verbal commitment is good enough? No pomp? No circumstance? I don't know how I feel about this because my DD was supposed to sign in November. We pre-ordered the balloons and everything.

The school can still do a signing ceremony. She can sign a commitment letter from the school. Doesn't have to be NLI letter. That's what D3's do.

 

[Gambler Bob]

Breaking News: NCAA Eliminates National Letter of Intent Program (Oct. 9, 2024)

Breaking News: NCAA Eliminates National Letter of Intent Process (Oct. 9, 2024) By Brentt Eads October 9, 2024 Breaking News: NCAA Eliminates Nat

linedrivemedia.com

So now what? A verbal commitment is good enough? No pomp? No circumstance? I don't know how I feel about this because my DD was supposed to sign in November. We pre-ordered the balloons and everything.

Keep hearing more and more about scholarships disappearing totally. Instead the athletes will all be employees of the school they are intending. My guess is that the NLI will just be reworded to accommodate the wording that will be required for athletes to become employees of the school.

Sounds preliminary judgements have been approved in court involving a 2.78 billion dollar settlement in total. Was also informed that each P4 school would have 21.5 million dollars to pay to athletes.

 

[The Man In Blue]

Keep hearing more and more about scholarships disappearing totally. Instead the athletes will all be employees of the school they are intending. My guess is that the NLI will just be reworded to accommodate the wording that will be required for athletes to become employees of the school.

Sounds preliminary judgements have been approved in court involving a 2.78 billion dollar settlement in total. Was also informed that each P4 school would have 21.5 million dollars to pay to athletes.

I haven't been following this, but they will NEVER be considered employees of the school. Too much liability and cost (insurance, workman's comp, benefits, etc.). It's already disgusting enough that the head football coach is the highest paid STATE employee in most states, can you imagine all the athletes getting state employee benefits?

The closest they will ever get is possibly considering them independent contractors . . . a term that garners a snorting guffaw from most umpires.

 

[Gambler Bob]

I haven't been following this, but they will NEVER be considered employees of the school. Too much liability and cost (insurance, workman's comp, benefits, etc.). It's already disgusting enough that the head football coach is the highest paid STATE employee in most states, can you imagine all the athletes getting state employee benefits?

The closest they will ever get is possibly considering them independent contractors . . . a term that garners a snorting guffaw from most umpires.

You very well could be correct. I am certainly not sure on the terminology of what the athletes will be called in terms of employee/independent contractor. It does seem to be heading in the direction that the schools will be allowed to pay athletes directly.

 

[The Man In Blue]

You very well could be correct. I am certainly not sure on the terminology of what the athletes will be called in terms of employee/independent contractor. It does seem to be heading in the direction that the schools will be allowed to pay athletes directly.

Here is my question, coming from a place of ignorance . . .

Are the schools the ones paying them though? I am familiar with the collectives, but aren't those independent organizations, like boosters? Or are they actually a school managed fund?

 

[Gambler Bob]

Here is my question, coming from a place of ignorance . . .

Are the schools the ones paying them though? I am familiar with the collectives, but aren't those independent organizations, like boosters? Or are they actually a school managed fund?

This is how I understand what is happening currently. Currently the school is allowed to pay an athlete for education expenses, scholarship for tuition, stipends - money for housing and other school expenses.

NIL money comes from a secondary party/ boosters, collectives.

Below is a copy and paste of keypoints of what is going through the court system currently.

What To Know​

• The agreement, which still must be approved by a judge, will settle three pending federal antitrust cases -- but not all legal issues the NCAA is facing.

• Under the terms of the agreement, the NCAA will pay more than $2.7 billion in damages over 10 years to past and current athletes, sources said.

• The agreement includes a revenue-sharing plan allowing each school to share up to roughly $20 million per year with its athletes, sources said.

• All Division I athletes dating back to 2016 are eligible to receive a share as part of the settlement class -- but if they do so, they cannot sue the NCAA for other potential antitrust violations.

• Athletes can object to the settlement or opt out of the settlement class.

• A series of formulas devised by a sports economist will be used to decide how to split the money among more than 10,000 former and current athletes.

• Schools likely will begin sharing revenue in fall 2025, sources said.

 

[clarity]

I haven't seen any discussion of it, but with the new salary cap structure in place, it seems that public universities will be forced to put a premium on recruiting in-state. In-state kids will be a smaller salary cap hit, freeing up more money to allocate to the top recruits.

 

[BucketDud]

What To Know​

• The agreement, which still must be approved by a judge, will settle three pending federal antitrust cases -- but not all legal issues the NCAA is facing.

• Under the terms of the agreement, the NCAA will pay more than $2.7 billion in damages over 10 years to past and current athletes, sources said.

• The agreement includes a revenue-sharing plan allowing each school to share up to roughly $20 million per year with its athletes, sources said.

• All Division I athletes dating back to 2016 are eligible to receive a share as part of the settlement class -- but if they do so, they cannot sue the NCAA for other potential antitrust violations.

• Athletes can object to the settlement or opt out of the settlement class.

• A series of formulas devised by a sports economist will be used to decide how to split the money among more than 10,000 former and current athletes.

• Schools likely will begin sharing revenue in fall 2025, sources said.

Interesting. I was told this was coming by a coach months ago. He said the schools hated that collectives were cutting them out of the process and paying players directly. It created the Wild West. So by making everything run back through the school again it gives them more control and the ability to tap into those donations if needed.

The $20M is also interesting (and less than I thought). Let's say an average school has about 800 student-athletes, that would be $25K per kid. So if is the true limit and NIL pools completely go away I think softball player pay is going down. Definitely not getting six figure deals like we have seen recently.

I would be in favor of a $150K-$200K player cap. Still good money, but not driving a Lambo to practice money.