Ross Dellenger on NIL legislation: Athletic directors believe its coming

Changes to the current NIL landscape feel inevitable. In fact, two conference commissioners enlisted Congress’ help, and one insider got the sense new legislation is coming.

Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger joined The Paul Finebaum Show and shared some insight he received from athletic directors. He said some think a federal NIL law could be on the horizon, and those comments came just a few weeks after SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff met with Senators about that very topic.

But even if things don’t change at the federal level, Dellenger said change is all but certain to come.

“I think what’s at the very end of the road … is a totally different model,” Dellenger said. “It’s been bantered about for quite some time. We’re seeing just a separation [of] not only guys between the Power 5 and in the Group of 5, but within the Power 5 and NIL is just further separating the rich from the richer and the richest. We’re seeing that separation. It feels like we’re heading for some different model that might regulate things, regulate these payments under some kind of collective bargaining or some kind of professionalized format. That’s just what it feels like. Is that going to happen immediately? Probably not.

“Still, there are people that hold out hope that next year, after the mid-term elections in November, the next Congress will be able to pass some kind of federal NIL bill for three years. NCAA leaders have been lobbying for that. They haven’t gotten it. I don’t know what makes them think they’re going to get it, but I guess if it gets so chaotic, maybe.”

Ross Dellenger believes NCAA fears litigation on NIL enforcement

During the same interview, Dellenger talked about the NCAA’s enforcement of NIL rules. He pointed to a couple different factors: staffing issues and a potential fear of litigation.

“There’s two problems here,” Dellenger said. “NCAA enforcement is understaffed. We reported several weeks ago about their staffing issues, down 15 [to] 20 people from the COVID-like layoffs, I believe. No. 2 is the fear of being sued by wealthy boosters and booster collectives for one reason, potential anti-trust stuff, and two, potentially not being able to prove that inducements are inducements.

“As an AD told me, ‘It can smell like an inducement, it can look like an inducement, but you’ve got to prove that it was an inducement.’ A lot of these boosters and collectives are pretty savvy in crafting their contracts. They’re going to make sure they don’t have something in there that can get them caught.”