Let chaos begin: NCAA NIL reform starts after historic settlement verdict
Let chaos begin: NCAA NIL reform starts after historic settlement verdict
When the virtual gavel officially struck on the night of June 7, the college football landscape underwent a historic shift that was heard around the world.
Approval of the NCAA's settlement, which includes three antitrust cases, sent shockwaves throughout fan bases, media circles, and universities. Thousands of former athletes who played from 2016 to 2024 are set to earn $2.8 billion in back pay for missed name, image, and likeness opportunities. The settlement also sets a new precedent, allowing current and future athletes to legally receive compensation directly from their universities, including the Texas A&M Aggies.
While a five-year legal battle comes to a close, the ruling leaves more questions than answers about the future of collegiate athletics. Yahoo Sports college football writer Ross Dellenger has provided extensive coverage and continues to post updates as the NCAA constructs new policies in response to the settlement.
One of those new establishments set by the NCAA was announced in a large document Q&A release:
The acceptance of the settlement has opened up a whole new world for college athletics, as the new NIL Go clearinghouse began operating on June 14. The purpose of the proposed platform is to establish a system for compensation while preventing potential booster payments.
NIL deals would run through the software and provide athletes with direct compensation, eliminating the need to worry about potential conflicts that could undermine the NCAA's established precedents.
Here is more from Dellenger on the clearinghouse and what it will do for athletes and universities moving forward:
The new algorithm was produced and built by Deloitte, an accounting firm and digital platform established in 1845. However, the legality of the systems remains in question. One of the remaining conflicts in the proposed system is the figuration of subpoena powers and how the NCAA and the courts would use them. According to Dellenger's expansive deep dive into the systems, Deloitte reported some impressive statistics in the company's presentation that could benefit the NCAA in preventing potential booster pay.
"For example, Deloitte officials claim that 70% of past deals from booster collectives would have been denied in their algorithms, while 90% of past deals from public companies would have been approved," Dellenger said. "Deloitte has also shared with officials that about 80% of NIL deals with public companies were valued at less than $10,000 and 99% of those deals valued at less than $100,000."
The biggest complaint that most have presented in discussions of regulations and the future of college athletics is the overhaul of the transfer portal. Since the NCAA depleted the limit set on the number of times an athlete can transfer in 2024, the portal has seen record activity as players seek new opportunities. Some of those players were transferring during NCAA postseason play, which was addressed by Texas Rep. Marc Veasely, according to Dellenger.
As a result of the ruling, the future of collegiate athletics remains unclear. The direction of regulations and finalizations in potential NCAA legalities requires fixing, or else the transfer portal will continue to run rampant, and college athletics will slowly fade into a professional-football-esque look.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Dylan on X: @dylanmflippo.
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Time Magazine
2 hours ago
- Time Magazine
‘I'm Betting on Myself.' Why RJ Luis Gave Up Millions to Enter the NBA Draft
After RJ Luis Jr., the second-team All-American college basketball player from St. John's University, put his name in the transfer portal in late March, the offers came pouring in. Luis, a 6-ft. 7-in. junior, was the top player in the transfer market, and according to his camp, he received starting offers in the $3 million to $4 million range to play for Kansas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Indiana, and other top programs. Before the NCAA began allowing Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) four years ago, staying in college was considered a financial risk for basketball prospects. Any injuries suffered in school could imperil future professional earnings. Now, however, athletes can earn seven figures a season through sponsorship deals with third parties and pooled booster funds from a school's alumni and fan base, known as collectives. And on June 6, a federal judge approved a court settlement that cleared the way for schools to directly compensate athletes themselves, rubber-stamping the end of amateurism in big-time college sports. For many players these days, it makes more sense to return to campus for a guaranteed payday. Especially for a player like Luis, who unlike, say, the consensus No. 1 pick Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, is by no means a top NBA prospect guaranteed to make more than $3 million in his rookie season. Luis' final college game—a 3 for 17 shooting nightmare in a second-round NCAA tournament loss to Arkansas that, in a controversial decision by St. John's coach Rick Pitino, ended with Luis on the bench —did his draft stock no favors. In fact, some mock boards don't have Luis being drafted at all. And yet on May 28 Luis' agent revealed that he would be going against the 2025 athletic grain and staying in the NBA draft, which he had entered in March as well. To many, this decision came as a surprise. He turned down the transfer-portal offers, giving up those riches–Indiana and North Carolina declined to comment; Kansas and Arkansas did not reply by press time–and if he doesn't get drafted, he can't go back to college. But Luis insists it's the right move. 'I don't think it's necessarily a risk,' says Luis, 22, on June 11 from Charlotte, before conducting a workout with the Hornets, who currently have the fourth, 33rd, and 34th picks in the draft (the first round will take place on June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, while the second round unfolds the next day). 'If I do what I have to do in the NBA, then I can make even way more money than that. So it's not even about the money. Because if it was, I would have gone back to college. But it's just trying to set myself up for the future, to be honest. I think I had an amazing year. What better time would it be to go to the next level and pursue my dreams of playing in the NBA?' In other words, Luis is taking a gamble on himself. 'That's what I've been doing my whole life,' says Luis. 'I've had countless people telling me what my limitations are. But I end up passing their expectations. So yeah, I'd say I'm betting on myself. I'll always take me, 100%.' 'You've gotta set up your plan, man, and stick with your plan,' says Reggie Charles Luis, RJ's dad, who played professionally overseas in 10 different countries, including the Dominican Republic, Spain, Argentina, North Macedonia, and Germany. 'And that's what we're doing.' Luis grew up in Miami, where his mother Verito Luis, who worked at a community center, insisted he sample a variety of sports: soccer, basketball, tennis, baseball, karate. A self-described late bloomer, RJ Luis says he didn't start taking basketball all that seriously until the summer after 10th grade, when he earned a spot on the Dominican Republic's under-17 national team for a tournament in Puerto Rico, featuring teams from Central America and the Caribbean. Coming out of high school, he had offers from only a couple of lower-level Division 1 schools. He did a post-grad year at a prep school and earned a scholarship to UMass, a mid-major whose coach, Frank Martin, is known for his intensity. 'I learned how to play some defense,' Luis says. After a productive freshman season for the Minutemen in 2022-2023, Luis leaped at the chance to transfer to St. John's, located in the New York City borough of Queens, to play for Pitino, the Hall of Famer who had just taken over the program. 'I've heard a lot of coaches say they work out their guys all the time,' says Luis. 'To actually see Coach Pitino keep his word and actually do it, I was very intrigued.' Injuries slowed him his sophomore season. Luis fractured his hand in preseason, and shin splints in both legs limited his practice time. 'I was just very out of rhythm,' says Luis. Soon after the season—St. John's failed to make the NCAA tournament—he underwent shin surgery and spent some three to four months in recovery. 'The first month and a half, I couldn't walk,' says Luis. 'My dad actually had to carry me everywhere. I was in a wheelchair. It was pretty bad.' Once he could move about, Luis spent time in the summer working with his father trying to remove a hitch in his shot. The practice paid off. His junior season was spectacular. Luis improved his three-point shooting and led St. John's to its first Big East regular-season title in 40 years and its first conference tournament championship since 2000. He was named Big East Player of the Year. Even more important than the individual accolades, Luis, Pitino—the national coach of the year—and the Red Storm revived a former national power that had been stagnating, in the media capital of the world no less, for decades. St. John's packed Madison Square Garden throughout February and March. The Tonight Show featured the team. So the early NCAA tournament exit was devastating, especially for the Red Storm's long-suffering fans. St. John's was seeded No. 2, in the West region: Arkansas, the 10-seed, upset the Red Storm 75-66, on March 22, in the second round. Luis had struggled throughout the game, but with 4:56 left, he made a pair of free throws to cut Arkansas' lead to two, 64-62. Sometimes, seeing the ball go through the basket, even on foul shots, can help a shooter's confidence. 'That's what my mind-set was,' says Luis. 'Knocked these two free throws down. Cut it to a one-possession game, try to slow down myself. And, you know, anything can happen in five minutes. This is college basketball.' Instead, Pitino subbed out Luis after the second shot. And incredibly, he never put his All-American back in. The decision was especially baffling because it's not like anyone else on St. John's was making shots in Luis' stead: the team finished the game shooting 2 for 22 from three-point range. 'I was just shocked and just confused,' says Luis. 'I was just trying to stay as calm as possible and not do anything or make it worse.' Luis had expected Pitino to give him a pep talk and put him right back in the game. After all, coaching players up is his job. 'He's done it before,' says Luis. 'There have been other games where he's spoken to me. Obviously I couldn't make a shot. But the whole team, we were just off. Nobody could make a basket. So I don't know.' But as the minutes ticked away, it became apparent that Luis' incredible season was going to end with him as a bench spectator. Pitino has defended his choice. "It was the right move because of where he was mentally," Pitino said on the VICE TV docuseries Pitino: Red Storm Rising, adding, "He was forcing shots, and it was affecting the rest of his game … 100% the right decision, not playing RJ Luis in that game, 100%.' Luis says he hasn't spoken to Pitino since early April, around the time Luis informed him he was putting his hat in the NBA draft ring, while entering the transfer portal as a backup plan in case he changed his mind. While Luis, naturally, disagrees with Pitino's decision to bench him, he declines to knock his former coach. 'Just trying to take the high road and just end it on good terms,' says Luis, who tells TIME that if he had decided to stay in college, he would have returned to St. John's. By putting his name in the portal, he was just keeping all options open. Meanwhile, Pitino has publicly touted Luis' potential. 'He's going to be a great pro,' Pitino said before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a New York Yankees game in the Bronx in early June. When asked if the benching hurt his draft prospects, Luis pauses for seven seconds to consider his answer. 'I mean, it probably just brought up those 'what ifs,'' says Luis. 'Not necessarily hurt, just trying to figure out, like, what did he do to get put in that position?' Luis, who hopes to be the first Ecuadorian-American to play in the NBA—his mom was born in Ecuador, his dad in the Dominican Republic—has worked out for about a dozen teams over the past month or so: he says he's performed best in front of the Golden State Warriors, the Phoenix Suns, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Detroit Pistons, and the Orlando Magic. He's blocking out the mock draft boards that have all NBA teams passing on him. 'All that stuff is speculation,' he says. 'In the past, we've seen a bunch of guys, where they have them at a certain number, and they end up not even close to where they're supposed to be. So I'm really just controlling what I can control.' He says teams tell him he's likely to be a late first-round or early second-round selection. He believes he's worthy of a first-round status. 'One hundred percent,' says Luis. 'My game is more applicable to the NBA. Just the spacing and the speed of the game. I'm still working on my three-point shot, but I'm not worried about that. I know I'm going to get that down.' His message to NBA GMs who pass on drafting him: 'They're missing out,' he says. 'And they're going to have to face me one day.' And for all the hoops fans who think he's making the wrong decision by going pro now and not cashing in on one more year of college? 'Thank you for all the support,' he says. 'Do not worry about me.'
Fast Company
3 hours ago
- Fast Company
Deloitte is fighting employee burnout with Legos
Given the rise of mental health woes, financial strain, and concerns over layoffs, there's a lot weighing on the modern employee. But one company is hoping to offset the stress with . . . Legos? Deloitte is offering to pay for employees' Legos to help them connect away their stress. The firm, which already offered well-being items and experiences, updated its employee subsidy program on June 1 to cover the toy. According to internal documents accessed by Business Insider, Deloitte will reimburse employees up to $1,000 for gym memberships and equipment, spa services, gaming consoles, and, now, Legos and puzzles. The move is getting mixed reactions on social media. On X, comments about the Lego perk ranged from 'cheaper than therapy' to lots of laughing emojis to utter confusion. One popular post points out that the company had layoffs to cut costs just prior to announcing the Lego incentive, hinting that maybe the funds could be better allocated to retain employees rather than to add offbeat incentives. 'Corporate culture is irrevocably broken and backwards,' the post reads. One Deloitte employee told Business Insider that the perk was received with a mix of jokes and enthusiasm. 'Most of the responses are things like 'Lego?!?!? Finally!' or jokes about how they can now rationalize buying the coveted Millennium Falcon Star Wars Lego set,' the employee said. (The set costs $850). While Legos might be fun, or even therapeutic, employees who are battling against very real modern concerns might need more than building blocks to avoid burnout. And that may be especially true at firms like Deloitte, where the workweek can average 55 hours. Fast Company reached out, but Deloitte declined to comment. Matthew Owenby, chief strategy officer and head of HR at insurance company Aflac, tells Fast Company that employees today are up against big challenges. 'Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic first started a national conversation around mental health [and] employee burnout persists at very high levels,' Owenby says. 'According to the 2024-2025 Aflac WorkForces Report, more than half of all U.S. employees say they face at least moderate burnout, with nearly a quarter experiencing high burnout.' That report also points out that nearly half (47%) of respondents said having an employer who respects the importance of time off helps with their work-life balance. Likewise, 51% said more paid time off (PTO) is the most effective way to alleviate burnout. Shockingly, the report did not ask respondents how much Legos impacted their well-being. Owenby says that addressing the burnout epidemic is not quite as easy as providing a stipend for puzzles and building blocks. Instead he recommends examining employees' heavy workloads, giving them flexibility and time off. 'When asked about the most effective ways to address burnout, employees offered simple and straightforward solutions: giving employees the option to work from home, increasing paid time off, and creating company-sponsored self-care programs,' Owneby said. Again, Legos did not make the list. Sadly, while workers desperately seem to need PTO, they don't always feel they can take it. A June 2025 report from LiveCareer showed that one in three workers are worried that taking vacation days will lead to layoffs. 'Fear of layoffs and job insecurity is at an all-time high, and these concerns are influencing the workforce to deprioritize their overall well-being,' Jasmine Escalera, career expert for LiveCareer, said in the report. 'When employees hesitate to take the PTO they've earned, it can seriously impact their mental health, productivity, and overall engagement at work.' That's not to say that hobbies like social time, crafts, or even playing with Legos can't be helpful. However, when it comes to employee satisfaction, a Lego allowance feels a bit like, well, child's play. Because unless those Lego sets come with an extra week of vacation and the time to actually play with them, how much good can they really do for employees anyway?
New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
Cam Newton was one of CFB's biggest stories since 2000, plus CFB news
Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈 | This is The Athletic's college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox. Today in college football news, Lay's Valentina & Lime demolishes Doritos Blazin' Buffalo & Ranch for junk food of the week honors. Every quarter-century in college football is busy, to be clear — now I want to do a whole newsletter section on the least consequential such period, because that'd actually be really, really hard — but these 25 years have left massive and often long-awaited marks on the sport's history. Last week, Scott Dochterman ranked the 25 most consequential stories since 2000. As you'd expect, the top of the list includes a whole lot of 2020s. It's been an especially busy decade, and it's only halfway done. Consider: The only thing I would want to tweak, if I were rearranging these items with push pins on a particle board: moving Cam Newton's 2010 season up four spots into the top 10, just behind the Big Ten truly launching the modern realignment era around the same time. The story of Auburn's quarterback having a father who'd allegedly asked a whole other school for a low-six-figure payment was one of the sport's biggest pop-culture crossover dramas of the 2010s. More critically, it might have been the single biggest turning point in the public's perception of amateurism. Newton and his plight as the smiling face of scandal made a whole lot of people start to think, 'Wait … why shouldn't this kid who's single-handedly turning a very mediocre team into a national champ get paid for it?' Newton's 2010 made more people reconsider the NCAA's late-2000s treatment of Reggie Bush (No. 12 on Scott's list). By the time of Johnny Manziel's 2013 NCAA-baiting (No. 25), the entire thing was starting to feel like a joke everyone was in on, like a house that had always been bound to collapse. Fast forward, and now it barely registers when Power 4 boosters pay decent quarterbacks 15 or 20 times what a Heisman winner's family might have requested just 14 years prior. Remember: For more of The Athletic's look back at the past 25 years, inspect our rankings of the top 25 teams, top 25 players, top 25 coaches and top 25 games. And here's that link to the top 25 storylines again. 📺 Two notes from Andrew Marchand's insider notes on Pat MacAfee: 🅾️ Surprising nobody, GameDay will start the season at Texas-Ohio State. Lee Corso's final episode, remember. Sure would be cool if McAfee were away doing his own thing elsewhere! 💰 Post-House settlement lightning round: 🦬 Deion Sanders sounds okay after some recent health issues. 🍀 Notre Dame is looking into a QB recruit named Brady Quinn, and no, he is not a time traveler. That we know of. 💎 Men's College World Series starts tonight. Eight things to know, including Arkansas as the melting pot of college baseball transfers. New Mexico Junior College! Florida SouthWestern State, with a capital W! Until Saturday's completely format-free 2025 season preview countdown continues today with Conference USA and the MAC, the conferences that usually have the nation's most and least transient membership rosters, respectively. I decided to pair these two into one edition for a couple reasons: With all this in mind, let's bring on The Athletic's Chris Vannini, who has covered lots of college football things, including smaller schools and The Video Game. How convenient! Which of the two latest CUSA additions (Delaware and Missouri State) would be more fun as a fixer-upper? Chris: While both have been top-25 FCS programs, I'm interested in Delaware. While playing an early version of the game, I actually spent a little time with them and really enjoyed their playbook, so that's a bonus. For those unaware, Joe Flacco's alma mater looks like Michigan, with blue and yellow winged helmets. The Blue Hens are also the only FBS program in the state of Delaware, so they're unique. They have a balanced offense that may again rotate quarterbacks who can run and pass. The new Dynasty mode will encourage more local recruiting by making distant recruiting visits cost more, so get ready to recruit a lot of New Jersey. Same question for the MAC. Seems like UMass rejoining after a decade away makes the Minutemen an enticing project? UMass is another in a long list of former FCS national champions who have moved up to FBS, but they've had no success. People around the program earnestly believe it'll be different now that they've started to fund the program the way it should be, and they'll be near the top of the MAC financially this time around. On the field, UMass brings in dual-threat Yale quarterback Grant Jordan, who might be able to make some waves in the MAC. But it's also a hard team to predict, with so much portal turnover during a coaching change. Look at that, sneaking in actual season preview content. As far as Who's Gonna Win goes, Liberty will surely again be CUSA's clear favorite* despite losing 2023 league MVP quarterback Kaidon Salter to Colorado. Potential replacement Ethan Vasko played the last two years at Coastal Carolina, which happens to be the school his new head coach, Jamey Chadwell, had just left. Advertisement * Last year, Jacksonville State was picked third in the league in the conference's preseason poll, then beat Western Kentucky in the league title game. Both now enter the season in a big pile of second-tier contenders. Weird way of putting it, I guess. They're all 0-0. In the MAC, expect Toledo to be the pick for what feels like the billionth time, though the Rockets have just two league titles since 2004. That sounds way more rude than I'd meant. They've been super consistent! So many near-misses! Feel like I've typed this exact paragraph annually for a decade now. Sorry. Also expect some first-place MAC preseason votes for defending champ Ohio, defending runner-up Miami (Ohio) and NIU — the country's second-best team last year, based on scoring margin in games against Notre Dame. A sleeper pick based on roster stability, though that's a very relative concept in the MAC: Buffalo. Your turn. This week's survey: Whether you're a gamer or not, which team in all of college football would be the most fun to turn into a CFP contender? I'll run some of your brilliant ideas next week. Have a good weekend, and untilsaturday@ is how you can email me about any of this. Most of you usually just email me about the non-sequitur intros. Thank you either way.
