(05-07-2022 10:03 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(05-07-2022 08:07 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(05-07-2022 07:36 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Interstate commerce

The Constitution not only gives Congress the ability to regulate it, but heck, the mere specter of it has allowed Congress to regulate a number of thoroughly unrelated matters over the generations.

When we're talking about college athletes being employees and engaging in "trade" that involves other employees across state lines then you have a basis for legislation.

Now it matters how creative they get with accomplishing certain goals. NIL will remain essentially unregulated, but what the commissioners need to do is come up with something that keeps the athletes tied to the school via enrollment or else they may kill the golden goose.

Nonetheless, limiting compensation in any way barring an anti-trust exemption will be DOA.

I don't know that NIL will be more regulated in the future than it is now. But I suspect that folks at the IRS have been reading the same stories about what's happening with schools and individual college athletes as we have, and will have something to say about the tax implications of these deals.

They could very well decide that some of these deals between corporations, whether for profit or non-profit, are actually sham transactions, and therefore not deductible by a for profit business or allowed for a non-profit because they are expenditures for purposes other than those which gave rise to their non-profit status.

Perhaps some of the sugar daddies funding salaries for the Texas offensive line are planning on taking a tax deduction for making a "donation" to a 501-c(3) corporation that will have those linemen make a few PSA's promoting some charitable cause. To the extent that those payments are above the fair market value of those promos they could deem the "donations" to actually be gifts subject to gift taxes (which are paid by the donor, not the donee).

The IRS doesn't need new legislation to make such determinations. They can simply apply the same standards they have always used when auditing corporate and individual tax returns. That could throw cold water on a lot of these "creative" deals that are thinly veiled recruiting tactics.

Interesting point.

I think KenD describes a likely, and viable, control and one which already exists. All schools need do is require work towards a degree to keep the students. Contacts will put some brakes on the transfer portal. So, pay for play doesn't mean the most dire things will happen. The government controls us all via income tax. Pay the players and those who violate tax law will be prosecuted. Contract law covers the rest. All the breakaway tier need do is establish punishments for any athletic department employee or coach who tries to encourage a player under contract to leave their employer. In fact that too is tortious interference.