NIL Newsletter # 150 | Missouri's New NIL Bill, NCAA President's Op-Ed, No NIL Tax Write-Offs, + ICYMI

May 15, 2023

Missouri Revises NIL Law to Protect Coaches

Under the new amendment to the state’s existing NIL law, college coaches are able to work directly with athletes and recruits who are negotiating NIL deals.
House Bill 417, which was passed by the state House this past Tuesday, allows coaches and school officials to “identify, create, facilitate, negotiate, support, enable, or otherwise assist” with NIL opportunities.
This is but one more example of the growing trend of explicit permission from state legislatures for college coaches and administrators to facilitate NIL deals.
Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz joined both the Men’s and Women’s basketball coaches at the state capitol to support the amendment.
Coaches and school employees remain prohibited from being paid by student-athletes for facilitating deals, and the bill “shall not be construed to qualify a student athlete as an employee of a postsecondary educational institution.”
More information is available HERE.

NCAA President Charlie Baker Advocates for Federal NIL Bill

President Baker, in an opinion for The Hill, spoke highly of recent NCAA efforts to improve the well-being of student-athletes.
Baker focused on the “Holistic Student-Athletes Benefits Model,” which, among other achievements, provides medical coverage for athletic-related injuries for a minimum of two years following graduation.
In light of this success, Baker turned to the “chaotic nature” of the world of NIL. He pointed to a patchwork of state NIL laws, and made pointed criticism of laws which “explicitly instruct schools to ignore NCAA guidelines in order to provide universities in those states a competitive advantage,” citing Arkansas as an example.
He also cited over a dozen NIL offers made to high school recruits that were found to be exploitative, and shared the cautionary tale of T.A. Cunningham.
In conclusion, Baker called upon Congress as the only entity with the ability to create a single set of national rules that “allow student-athletes to realize their NIL earning potential while setting up consumer protections for student-athletes and their families.”
More from his Op-Ed is available HERE.

Senators Cardin and Thune Reintroduce NIL-related Bill

Ben Cardin and John Thune, members of the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight reintroduced the Athlete Opportunity and Taxpayer Integrity Act.
This act, if passed, would prohibit individuals and organizations from using charitable tax deductions for contributions that compensate collegiate student-athletes for use of their name, image, and likeness.
“We want to ensure that the opportunities available for student athletes to benefit from their own name, image and likeness are protected. We also have an obligation to protect taxpayer funds, which means that charitable deductions should be reserved for charitable activities,” said Cardin.
“College athletes have the ability to benefit from opportunities related to their own name, image, and likeness, but outside organizations and collectives should not be able to write contributions off their taxes that are being used to compensate athletes,” said Thune.
Collectives have established models to compensate student-athletes while claiming 501(c)(3) charitable status, which makes individual contributions to those collectives tax deductible.
The proposed Act would apply directly to these collectives, while exempting educational institutions.
The full bill is available HERE.

ICYMI Ticker

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert believes the growth of NIL in collegiate Women’s Basketball will benefit the WNBA: “[P]layers coming out of college now have huge followings. We’re going to benefit from their followings.” LINK
The Memphis-focused 901 Fund reported $831,437 in revenue, but only $487,093 in expenses, leaving an NIL slush fund of over $340,000. LINK
New York introduced a new NIL bill which would immunize universities from NCAA punishments, among other changes. LINK
Andy Dalton will send payments to every TCU student-athlete when myNILpay launches. LINK
Angel Reese joined fellow LSU student-athlete Livvy Dunne in this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. LINK