Greg Sankey spearheading federal NIL movement

The NIL (name, image, and likeness) is a continued talking point among college administrators and most others in the collegiate sports realm.

There are many impacts that the new rulings are going to have on athletes. Some of those could be negatives for the athletes, especially if they’re deemed employees of the NCAA or a company for which they’re sponsoring.

On top of that, there could be concerns with boosters using NIL opportunities to lure players to a specific school.

One type of ideology that immediately comes to mind is the issues in “The Blind Side” that Michael Oher had to go through when committing to Ole Miss and not another SEC program.

Now, that was in the past, and now things are different.

The structure for NIL opportunities still needs to be the same throughout all states as that could also sway decision-making for recruits. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was among the names pushing for federal NIL legislation.

“Today, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff will meet with Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) to push for federal NIL legislation,” Kentucky Sports Radio’s Tyler Thompson wrote early Thursday.

Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger also brought to light a task force that the NCAA is creating focused on these NIL issues.

“The guidelines will provide more guidance to member schools on what many administrators say are NIL-disguised ‘pay for play’ deals orchestrated by donors to induce prospects, recruit players off other college teams and retain their own athletes,” Dellenger wrote.

Pay-for-play issues and eventual possible employment drama could both be issues resolved by federal legislation, which Sankey is spearheading. Having federal laws, as long as they’re fair for the athletes, should only bring positives to the NIL opportunities.