https://www.si.com/college/2023/06/10/irs-name-image-likeness-collectives-not-tax-exempt
I know NU has some kind of organization like this…
and I’d bet the booster organizations will be sending out 1099’s to all the “independent contractors” playing for the school.
Go B1GCats
rsl
I think anything that weakens the whole NIL landscape probably helps NU relative to our competition
Harry
The new NCAA President has been making a pitch to Congress to have them help with the whole NIL issue. I figure that has about a 0% chance of passing.
Mike and Co.
I’m not sure the 0 percent is a good estimate. When you have people like Nick Saban complaining I think it gets the attention of a lot of legislators. You also have the new NCAA head coming from the political arena where as a Republican Governor he had to work with a heavily Democratic state legislature and by most accounts did a great job. Throw in that he is an NU B school grad and therefore must be good !
Of course anything that might get passed in Congress has to not run afoul of the Supreme Courts ruling
Harry
The courts only get involved if someone files a lawsuit. But there are probably lots of ways a law dealing with NIL could draw that kind of attention, Title IX issues, for example, because the data I’ve seen says men are getting the lion’s share of the NIL money.
The Knight Commission could file a suit, just because they’re anti-everything.
The main reason I don’t see it getting through Congress is that there’s no political upside to it. Congress usually has to be dragged, kicking and screaming, before it does ANYTHING these days.
Mike
I would ask are the college football factories and their fans happy with NIL or not? That might dictate how their congressional representatives will react College football biggest fans tend to be in the more Republican leaning districts ; how do they feel and would they pressure their representatives to make changes ?
Harry
Opinion is probably all over the map, depending on whether or not ‘your’ team is winning these days, and political pressure only matters if it comes attached to a large donation. /cyniicism
You’re probably correct that this is likely to matter more in non-urban districts, because that’s where most of the football factories are.
The SEC descended on Congress to lobby. They sent all the big name coaches fb and bb along. With ADs and Sankey also going. Doubt it made much of an impact outside the southern GOP.
There is not surprisingly a gulf between the parties with the GOP wanting to protect the NCAA from antitrust claims and the potential of students being declared employees and the Dems wanting the opposite.
Go Cats
Mark
Employees can be unionized. That’s why Democrats are interested in athletes being classified as employees. And the tort bar loves antitrust suits.
Likewise, charitable donations are different than business expenses, though at some point I wouldn’t be surprised to see the IRS question some of the NIL payments as having no possibility of benefiting the company, in part because NOBODY knows about them. But that’s a line that if it gets redrawn could have many unintended consequences.
Just remember that the ruling came from the IRS - and they, like many in Congress, feel that your money is actually their money and any time you withhold their money, they get upset.
While the ruling probably effects only the big donors to the schools, they also tend to be big donors to political campaigns so I’m not sure what those ramifications are…
But once the Title IX people get going, hold on to your hats… At NU, most of our B1G winners right now are on the Female side of Athletics, and I’d be surprised if Female stuff isn’t moving better than the male memorabilia, but all it will take is another NCAA appearance and a winning football record and that dynamic will shift again. IMHO
Go B1GCAts
rsl
Coach
Whatever you view of the IRS and their role in collecting taxes , they are charged with writing the “Regs” or the regulations that flow from Congressional passage of tax laws
Harry
New NCAA President Charlie Baker agrees with the IRS ruling on NIL cooperatives.