re: Could this be the answer to the NIL/portal mess we have now, and would it work?

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That's pay for play, and the athlete would become an employee or, at the very least, an independent contractor for the school

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Yes, it would be pay for play. And that has been going on forever. A kid is required to play football to earn/retain something of value (his football scholarship). The only thing preventing it being cash instead of a scholarship is the NCAA itself.

As for being an independent contractor, that is what NIL is now. A kid enters an agreement to be paid for NIL with anyone willing to pay them. He is then, by law, required to be taxed on those earnings, assume they meet a minimum threshold. The school just becomes the "anyone willing to pay" at that point.

The real issue is, the courts have said (rather loosely but its there) that while the school can not prevent the kid from also getting paid for his NIL thru anyone else willing to do so.