Elk Grove (MPG) - When a high school or community college athlete signs a National Letter of Intent with a four-year institution to continue playing their sport, nowadays a big part of the negotiation is based upon money they’ll earn. That’s a new change in the college recruiting landscape. And it’s turning into a revolutionary change of collegiate sports overall.

In June 2021 the NCAA started it all by implementing a policy on name, image and likeness, or NIL, allowing student-athletes to make money from their personal brand.

This combined with the also fairly recent “Transfer Portal” has allowed these same student-athletes to change schools annually, looking for a better situation, new scenery and, with that, the likelihood there is more money to be earned.

The NIL landscape involves an agreement between the student-athlete and a third party, such as a brand, company or individual, where the student-athlete receives compensation for the use of their name, image and likeness. What has formed over the past two years are “NIL Collectives” which are support networks for college athletes where donors pool together money to compensate athletes. More on these collectives in a moment. Let’s now look at a recent visible example of what is happening with raised frequency at the collegiate level with its athletes.

Washington State’s Cameron Ward is one of the most sought-after QB's in the football transfer portal which opened Dec.1. He had reportedly 10 offers of at least $1 million in NIL money. Last season he had an excellent QB rating of 145.27 for the Cougars, completing 324 of 486 passes for 3,732 yards, 25 touchdowns and was intercepted only seven times.

He decided at the end of the season to look to play elsewhere. He had two years of college eligibility. The offers, according to numerous media reports, came rolling in.

Ward ended up deciding Jan. 1 he’s entering the NFL Draft, turning down reported multi-million dollar offers from Florida State, Ohio State, Miami, UCLA, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Michigan and Florida.

“The Athletic” reported Ward’s decision has sent a ripple through the college recruiting circles. They report Florida State is now after Oregon State QB DJ Uiagalelei who spent his first two college years at Clemson. Miami is pursuing Kansas State’s Will Howard while Miami, thought to be where Ward would land, now wants KJ Jefferson of Arkansas.

The Pros Start In College

The point here is that today’s four-year college athletes can now be considered professionals. And college coaches are looking to reload their rosters from the rosters of other college programs.

The players are earning money outwardly for playing their sport. The college campus is no longer the last bastion of amateur sports, with the exception of the community colleges. How long that will remain free of NIL money is anyone’s guess.

Back to the NIL collectives: these are independent organizations which generate deals for athletes at specific schools while operating separately from the schools themselves.

In a thorough article for “Ministry Watch” writer Shannon Cuthrell looked into these collectives who were already funding athletes at most of the nation’s largest private Christian universities. The collectives raise funds from fans, businesses, or boosters. Then, with coordination from the collective, student-athletes sign agreements with contributors to use their name/image/likeness for any range of activities—from social media posts and brand endorsements to speeches and fundraising events to autographs and merchandise. In the case of nonprofit collectives, players might promote a partner charity.

In her article Cuthrell wrote, “Six-figure deals are common in the NIL industry, as brands want to take advantage of players’ significant fan followings. The highest-ranked athletes have valuations from $561,000 to $5.9 million each. Opendorse, an NIL deals marketplace, projects a market spend of $1.17 billion in 2023, up from last year’s estimated $1 billion. The platform saw $917 million in deals in the first year after the NCAA implemented NIL rules. INFCLR, another NIL exchange, reported its average year-one transaction was $1,815, but year two bumped that figure to $1,936.”

NCAA’s regulations now forming

A patchwork of state laws has dictated how athletes can cash in on NIL over the past two years. Inconsistencies and a lack of transparency has made it almost impossible for the NCAA to enforce rules prohibiting NIL being used as an improper recruiting inducement or pay for play.

College sports leaders have been lobbying lawmakers in Washington for federal NIL legislation, but with help uncertain to come, the NCAA is working on creating its own rules. In October an NCAA committee arrived upon a set of recommendations which would include the creation of a voluntary registry of NIL service providers, requirements for disclosure of NIL deals worth more than $600 and development of a standardized NIL contract.

On Dec. 5, the NCAA announced a proposal that would allow colleges to enter into NIL deals directly with their athletes. This policy, if approved, would bring a major change to the NCAA’s long-held business model that prevented schools from providing any non-academic-based compensation to athletes.

According to NCAA president Charlie Baker the new rules would also create a new subdivision of Division I schools that would be allowed to create its own set of rules for recruiting, transfers, roster size and other policies. To be a part of that subdivision each school would have to put millions of dollars each year into a trust fund for athletes. More specifically, these schools would be required to set aside a minimum of $30,000 per athlete for at least half their athletes on an annual basis. There would be no requirements for how they spend it.

A changing landscape  

Until firmer policies and, perhaps, legislation is drawn, the NIL world will be ever-changing. Many sports news websites toss around figures athletes are offered or earned like they a Wall Street ticker. Most of those numbers are admittedly rumors, but still the elite athlete in college is making money, both men and women.

For the current high schooler this world of NIL payments looks like a good goal to shoot for, however, getting to the four-year college arena is harder and harder. Virtually every college coach admits they start their recruiting by searching the Transfer Portal. Next comes the community college athlete. For any high schooler to get a real look, you’ve got to be in the elite level of ability.

Locally, just two graduates from Elk Grove Unified football teams over the past two years signed with FBS schools: Simione Pale from Elk Grove with Stanford in 2022 and Mohammad Othmann of Pleasant Grove this year with San Jose State.

We’re seeing bigger rosters in all sports, not just football, at schools such as Sacramento City, Cosumnes River and American River colleges. That’s where today’s aspiring athlete will most generally begin and then they’ll need to pray for open doors.