National College Players Association partners with Senator Megan Hunt to update Nebraska NIL law to allow universities to directly pay NIL to their athletes!
WATCH TV SEGMENT ON NEBRASKA NIL BILL TO ALLOW UNIVERSITIES TO DIRECTLY PAY ATHLETES
OMAHA, Neb. —Nebraska's name, image and likeness laws need an update to keep its college sports teams competitive, a leader in the NIL movement tells KETV.
Ramogi Huma of the National College Player Association has been working with Omaha state Sen. Megan Hunt on an update to her 2020 law. The 2020 law says college athletes could be paid in deals, but not by the schools directly.
The new bill would allow Nebraska colleges to pay athletes directly. Hunt's bill would also prevent the NCAA or conferences from investigating and enforcing NIL activities that are allowed under Nebraska law.
"If Nebraska doesn't pass this law, Nebraska will be at a severe, severe competitive disadvantage," Huma told KETV.
Existing state law says colleges could pay their athletes directly only if a governing organization like the NCAA allows it, or if it happens by court order or in a settlement.
The House v. NCAA settlement agreement, if approved, would open the door to schools offering direct payments to players. But Huma said that settlement could face years of appeals.
In that case, Huma says only schools in states with legislation like Hunt's Legislative Bill 370 could take advantage of the new way to compensate and recruit players.
Huma said seven states have already passed similar legislation. He said Virginia was the first.
The bill would not allow governing bodies like the NCAA or a conference to enforce rules against paying players. Schools like Nebraska and Creighton wouldn't be allowed to cooperate with any investigation under the bill.
A state law in California in 2019 eventually helped lead to the NCAA's decision to allow NIL in 2021.
Creighton Law Professor David Weber has been following NIL closely. He said bills like Nebraska's put the NCAA between a "rock and a hard place."
"There are federal law concerns that the NCAA is getting sued over repeatedly," he said, "and then they're being whipsawed by the states because the states are coming in individually and saying, 'well, in our state, our athletes are our institutions can do the following.'"
Although players can be paid through private deals and collectives now, Huma says schools paying players directly would open up another "major source" of revenue to allow players to be compensated for their contributions to an athletic department's profits.
"The revenue just keeps jumping up and that's a great thing," he said. "Schools have an amazing platform. Athletes have amazing talents. And it just makes sense."