If you have no idea what NIL means, simply put, players will soon be able to be compensated to appear in ads for products. Schools are prohibited from bargaining on the student’s behalf and NIL cannot be used to recruit a player to a certain school.
Sure, there are schools like USC, UCLA, or Miami that are in bigger cities where the opportunities will be more likely, but companies like to align themselves with winners and no one gets more publicity in college football that athletes on the better teams.
According to Dennis Dodd of CBS, here are some of the early parameters:
Endorsement is a genuine payment for use of NIL, not a disguised form of pay for play with contingencies — compensation for participation or inducement in recruiting to select a certain school
Endorsement is for genuine use of NIL independent of athletic participation or performance rather than payment for participation or performance
Athletes cannot request to be compensated for NIL in situations in which they have no legal right to demand such compensation
Regulation of third parties, such as marketing agents and financial advisors
Potentially attempting to determine “fair market value” for endorsements in order to ensure they meet within the outlined regulations
Potentially limiting categories of promotion to be consistent with NCAA’s membership values (no alcohol, tobacco, sports gambling)
Potentially limiting categories of third-party endorsements (athletic shoe and apparel companies) due to a history of “encouraging or facilitating recruiting and other rules infractions”
Potentially making changes to acceptable pre-enrollment activities for athletes
Potentially ensuring any endorsements do not interfere with the NCAA’s efforts towards diversity, inclusion or gender equality
That said, here are a couple of Clemson players that would be great for a couple of national companies to sign a NIL deal with.