Bill allowing Texas universities to pay student-athletes awaits governor's signature
It's been a few years since NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals became part of college athletics.
Student-athletes were officially allowed to get endorsement deals from third parties, but universities couldn't pay them directly. According to ESPN, that could all change after the NCAA agreed to settle three cases last year, where they now have to pay more than $2 billion to current and former D1 athletes who played over the last 10 years.
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As part of the settlement, schools will be allowed to pay athletes directly under a system capped at $20.5 million annually.
State law doesn't allow universities to directly pay students. During the legislative session, a bill passed in the House and Senate to change that.
"That change would allow universities to pass through settlement dollars to student athletes for their name, image, and likeness, and prior to that, the laws we had on the books didn't allow for that," said Texas State Senator Brandon Creighton, who is one of the sponsors of the bill.
That bill has been sent to the governor's desk. ABC13 asked University of Houston head basketball coach Kelvin Sampson his thoughts on schools sharing revenue with players.
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"Now it's back the way it should be. The kids should get a cut. The kids should get paid. I don't know how that's going to look going forward," Sampson said.
But at the same time, he still has his concerns.
"If the schools that have the most money are signing the best players, that's not recruiting anymore. You don't call yourself a good recruiter when you offer a kid the most money," he continued.
While he's for athletes getting paid, he still has questions going forward as the world of college sports continues to change.
"What kind of rules and guidelines are you going to put in? Now you're taking stuff that's on top of the table. Now you're going to put them back under the table. But how do we be proactive with those rules? How do we govern those rules? This is an interesting time in college athletics."
A federal judge is currently reviewing the NCAA settlement case.
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