What does the NCAA NIL mean for Tiger athletes?

The NCAA has been backed into a corner that it can no longer fight out of.

Word came out yesterday that the NCAA now supported athletes making money based on their likeness and this is the first common sense statement that the NCAA has released in some time.

Allowing players to make money on who they are doesn’t take away from what we have come to love about college athletics, not one bit. Two years ago, former Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray made more than $3 million from his baseball contract and no one batted an eyelash.

This is no different.

According to Dennis Dodd of CBS, the NCAA has laid the following ground rules that schools and athletes have to follow.

"Endorsement is a genuine payment for use of NIL, not a disguised form of pay for play with contingencies — compensation for participation or inducement in recruiting to select a certain schoolEndorsement is for genuine use of NIL independent of athletic participation or performance rather than payment for participation or performanceAthletes cannot request to be compensated for NIL in situations in which they have no legal right to demand such compensationRegulation of third parties, such as marketing agents and financial advisorsPotentially attempting to determine “fair market value” for endorsements in order to ensure they meet within the outlined regulationsPotentially limiting categories of promotion to be consistent with NCAA’s membership values (no alcohol, tobacco, sports gambling)Potentially limiting categories of third-party endorsements (athletic shoe and apparel companies) due to a history of “encouraging or facilitating recruiting and other rules infractions”Potentially making changes to acceptable pre-enrollment activities for athletesPotentially ensuring any endorsements do not interfere with the NCAA’s efforts towards diversity, inclusion or gender equality"

What does that mean for Clemson athletes? Well, it means that we will start to see their faces around the upstate and hear their voices on the radio. Sure, being in a smaller metropolitan area may hurt some of them, but ultimately, if you make your college decision based on where you can make the most money off your likeness, NYU is about to clean up.

Keep in mind, most companies have both local and national campaigns. A guy like Trevor Lawrence is going to be a national campaign guy, whereas Tyler Davis would be a local campaign. Not to say one is better than the other, but one has a bigger social media following and is known for his hair.

There are places all around Clemson that have been using players’ likenesses for years and it is about time that they can be compensated for such. Will it be a game-changer in terms of recruiting, not likely as athletes still have other important qualities that they look for in a program and a school.

Just like when the NCAA adopted that schools pay athletes cost of attendance and fans freaked out claiming USC, UCLA and Miami would have the advantage because the COA was much higher. Instead, those schools have continued to be non-factors.

Clemson will still recruit at a high level and play for many more NCAA championships across the sports spectrum, players now will be able to make a little bit of money on the side and live a little bit better.