The old rule in college sports was that the players had to be amateurs. They could not receive any sort of monetary compensation. That was struck down by the Supreme Court as an antitrust violation, and now players are free to earn as much as they can from their names, images, and likenesses (the NIL rule).

What impact is that having on schools where sports are a big deal? That’s the subject of Professor William Anderson’s Martin Center article today. He reports that one player has just made a multi-million-dollar deal to switch from one powerhouse team to another.

Anderson writes:

There is no doubt that the advent of formal player payments through name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals — along with a transfer portal in which athletes are free agents all of the time and can transfer from one institution to another without having to sit out a year — is having a huge effect on college sports. Coaches must now re-recruit many of their players to keep them from jumping ship and moving to other programs that are dangling more money in front of them.

But the impact won’t be limited just to the on-the-field action, Anderson argues. “One area in which we might expect to see changes is how universities discipline student-athletes for alleged sexual assault on college campuses. It is one thing for a university to discipline or even expel someone accused of such a crime, but it is quite another when the person accused is the highest-paid person on campus, and the university has a direct investment in him.”

The NIL rule is going to have a significant impact on our big-sports colleges.