NIL in College Athletics: A Review from Economic, Historical, Legal, and
Abstract
College athletics is a major economic as well as social force in American society. A series of NIL related court cases and NCAA administrative decisions will likely help to transform college athletics for years to come. In the past, certain college athletes who participated at the Division I level had an opportunity to receive athletic scholarships. These scholarships were not direct monetary payments or direct compensation. Instead, they were considered to be athletic scholarships that provided room, board, books, tuition, and fees to selected student athletes. The notion of directly paying or compensating college athletes for their services was not allowed in the past as a strict view of pure amateurism prevailed in college sports. Examining college athlete compensation from economic, historical, legal, and international perspectives has allowed the author to closely examine the athlete compensation situation and controversy. Fairly recent NIL related court cases and NCAA administrative decisions have resulted in a situation where college athletes can now receive compensation. The current framework of NIL compensation for student athletes along with an examination of potential future issues and concerns will be discussed in this paper as well.