Actually, the Supreme Court ruled that the Governing Body of the NCAA could not penalize a student-athlete from making monetary value off his/her NIL. The NIL was argued & brought forth by Ed O’Bannon who had a direct suit against the NCAA & EA Sports for using either his name, his image, &/or likeness for monetary value, while he himself received no compensation. That’s the NIL rule.
It was for the college athlete to be allowed to be compensated when their name, image, &/or likeness was being used for the benefits of any entity besides the student-athlete themselves. It also opened up a way for the student-athlete to accept monetary benefits like signing an autograph, appearing in a commercial, etc. w/o losing eligibility or amateur status.
That’s what the Supreme Court ruled in favor in; NIL, even in its ambiguous by-laws have stated that it should not be used as a recruiting mechanism. So yes, there’s been some real slippery slopes b/c of ambiguous language & lack of enforcement that have created tampering within the transfer portal & HS recruiting. Many of these kids r getting NIL deals where no NIL contingencies/nature are being asked or fulfilled. All that is are bags vs. the nature of NIL.
