NCAA’s Charlie Baker calls on Congress to act on NIL ‘dysfunction’

The NCAA president criticized “evidence of dysfunction in today’s NIL environment” while reiterating his desire for Congress to create national guidelines for crafting so-called name, image and likeness endorsement deals that are reshaping college sports.

Charlie Baker’s social media post came on Friday, capping a week in which UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka made headlines by abruptly ending his season. His agent explained that Sluka made the decision after failing to receive $100,000 on a NIL deal that an assistant coach had promised when the quarterback agreed to trade to the Rebels last winter.

Baker did not directly mention the Sluka affair in his post, but referred to “promises made but not kept.”

“We continue to see signs of dysfunction in today’s NIL environment, including examples of promises made to student-athletes that are not kept,” Baker said.

He pointed to a model contract that the NCAA provides to athletes that contains what he called “recommended, fair terms and conditions.” But the NCAA, which has been a perennial loser in court over the issue of player payments in recent years, does not have the authority to force athletes to conform to its standards.

On Thursday, lawyers filed a reworded lawsuit settlement proposal that would send $2.78 billion to current and former players as part of a new revenue-sharing agreement between schools and athletes. The NCAA is a defendant in this lawsuit, and the settlement also limits its oversight of many NIL deals.

The settlement term is expected to last 10 years, although other factors, such as players’ possible attempt to unionize and either state or federal laws, will have an impact on what the collegiate landscape looks like going forward.

“We continue to advocate for Congress to establish national NIL policies that protect student-athletes from exploitation, including the use of standard contracts,” Baker wrote at the end of his post.