Are lucrative deals for college athletes doomed?

See She’s Softball’s First $1 Million Pitcher—and She Could Be the Last by Rachel Bachman and Laine Higgins of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Texas Tech’s booster collective actually paid NiJaree Canady a cool million to transfer from Stanford, where she was already a star, and suit up for the Red Raiders this season."

"Tracy Sellers, who funded an endorsement from the school’s donor collective with her husband, John, a former Red Raiders defensive lineman. “I hope it’s setting the stage for the next girl.”" 

"But athletes like Canady are suddenly an endangered species. That’s because a new set of rules that would severely restrict how much boosters can pay college athletes is likely to be enacted in the coming days."

"If and when Judge Claudia Wilken approves a settlement to a consolidation of three antitrust lawsuits brought by athletes against the major conferences and the NCAA, two big shifts are set to take place. First, each college athletic department will be allowed to share about $20 million of its annual revenues with athletes. But roughly 90% of that money is expected to go to the marquee sports of football and men’s basketball—leaving scraps for sports like softball.

Second, outside deals for athletes to profit from their name, image or likeness (NIL) would begin to go through a new clearinghouse built with help from Deloitte and overseen by a new entity set up to enforce the rules enacted by the settlement.  

In that clearinghouse, deals by major companies like Nike or State Farm are likely to pass muster, said someone familiar with a committee set up by the Power 5 conferences and NCAA to implement the settlement. Deals like Canady’s, funded primarily by booster collectives, are not."

"That is down to college sports’ continued resistance to characterizing athletes as employees, a move that would require a slew of new rights and regulations."

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