Shake Down the NIL with College Sports Law?

Letter to Romans: Capping pay & transfers is a pooch punt solution but better than unfettered chaos engulfing college sports thanks to free-flowing NIL money & free transfer reality. Bipartisan bill proposing reforms passed Senate by slaughter rule & House needs to blitz next…

Of course, the lawyers … who helped with the courts to create this NIL madness … made sure to first get their beloved federal “anti-trust exemption” into the bill.  As the WSJ notes, it would primarily “enshrine a cap on athlete pay & limit athletes to one transfer without having to sit out a year. It would require schools to maintain roster spots in Olympic sports to prevent schools from cutting sports to funnel more money to football, among other provisions.” Well, thank goodness the Olympic effort was taken care of. The Congressional Black Caucus opposes the bill, saying it was drafted without meaningful input from athletes; that’s Code for the bill was drafted without a provision requiring “collective bargaining rights” aka unionization of the athletes. Senate ally Chris Murphy (D) insists the bill not only suppresses pay for athletes but it “protects the billions of dollars that coaches & sports industry executives are making.”

Frankly, I find it hard to whine over the many so-called student-athletes who already get tens of thousands of dollars a year in free tuition but don’t graduate in four years like the average college schmuck. Or, how about the guys like Notre Dame’s Jeremiah Love, who get big time NIL pay & sponsorships, then, catapult to multi-million-dollar pro contracts … but without a degree they supposedly dreamed of when first recruited by their schools. ND’s & other schools’ “Alma Mater” post-game sing-alongs have gotten a tad hypocritical, no? No one’s asking but, I’d settle for a mandated discount off the Peacock/Other media subscriptions so I can afford to see all Fighting Irish games because I, like so many others, simply love Our Lady’s school & its legendary football team.

Davd Soul