After a series of losses culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in NCAA v. Alston, the NCAA seemingly stepped back from aggressive public enforcement of impermissible benefits to student-athletes’ rules violations. Following Alston, the NCAA issued an interim NIL policy in June 2021 that largely deferred to school and conference rules and state laws.
As the NIL market exploded and NIL collectives sprouted up at virtually every Power 5 school, the NCAA publicly called for federal legislation, and stories spread of the NCAA making inquiries with schools over NIL activities. Yet, other than guidance regarding the growth of NIL collectives, enforcement activity has been quiet.
Recent events, however, indicate that this is about to change.