UNCERTAINTY DEFINES FIRST MONTH OF NEW NIL RULES
Dalton Coppola Sports Editor
The Pitt band, cheerleaders and dance team paraded through the North Shore towards Heinz Field. Pitt flags waved, with blue and gold jerseys dotting the streets as the City skyline watched over the scene. Pittsburgh was alive with energy. Trumpets blared, drums pounded and fans cheered as the Panthers commenced their trek out of the locker room, through the tunnel and onto the field before a game against the North Carolina Tarheels in November 2019. Heinz Field erupted and tens of thousands of Panther fans seemingly fell into a college football induced trance. But as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. Pitt football head coach Pat Narduzzi’s salary was $4.73 million during fiscal year 2020, which ran from July 2019 through June 2020. The Pitt football program brought in more than $37.8 million that same year, as the Atlantic Coast Conference accrued $497 million. And the mastermind behind it all, the NCAA, raked in more than $500 million that fiscal year — even with college sports being put on hold in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The same Pitt
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Panthers who were wearing the shoulder pads and storming out of the tunnel didn’t see a single penny. Since its inception, the NCAA has held that college athletes cannot and will not be paid for their name, image or likeness. Athletes were ineligible to accept endorsements or receive payment for their performance — all to maintain the amateurism surrounding college athletics. NCAA President Mark Emmert went as far to call a shift to allowing players to capitalize on their NIL an “existential threat” to college athletics. But new rules and regulations regarding name, image and likeness benefits for college athletes will change this long-standing rule. Until recently, there was a $5,000 limit on educational benefits outside of tuition and board that schools were allowed to provide to their athletes. But a Supreme Court ruling in June removed the cap. In the concurring opinion that Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, he put the NCAA’s entire business model on blast and it seemed the castle the NCAA built up was finally crumbling. “The NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America,” See NIL on page 38
Universities, conferences and the NCAA have reaped major financial benefits from the efforts of college athletes. Their “amateur” status prevented them from being paid for more than 100 years — but times are changing. Kaycee Orwig senior staff photographer
August, 18 2021
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