NCAA to let athletes negotiate NIL deals before enrollment - ESPN

The NCAA has agreed to permanently drop its rule that prohibited athletes from negotiating the terms of name, image and likeness payments until after they enrolled in school.

The change is one of the terms of a legal settlement announced Monday between the NCAA and a Group of Five state attorneys general, who sued the association last year claiming that the restriction on NIL negotiations violated federal antitrust law. The settlement, which still needs to be approved by the judge overseeing the case, marks another step forward as the college sports industry prepares to embrace a more professional business model in the months ahead.

The NCAA's now-abandoned rule was designed to try to keep schools and booster collectives from using NIL deals as a recruiting incentive for incoming high school athletes and players in the transfer portal. While schools and boosters were allowed to speak generally about the kind of financial opportunities an athlete might have on campus, they were prohibited from making a specific offer to an athlete until he or she was enrolled.

Despite efforts to keep money from becoming an inducement, many coaches have publicly stated that NIL packages are a major factor in the decision-making process of recruits.

Tennessee's attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, filed a lawsuit challenging the rule last January, one day after the University of Tennessee revealed that their athletic department was being investigated for potential recruiting violations. Skrmetti argued that the rule kept athletes from negotiating with a school when their bargaining power was at its peak during the recruiting process. Florida, New York, Virginia and Washington D.C. subsequently joined the lawsuit against the NCAA.

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