The college NIL landscape has had its share of ups and downs. But it has always been portrayed in a positive light, allowing student-athletes to benefit from being themselves. What business goes behind the scenes is another question, though. And here is one viral claim that’s stirring the interest of fans, players, analysts, and coaches alike. 

Sports analyst Kevin Sweeney posted a video of NIL agent Noah Reisenfeld claiming that “pretty much every NIL agency charges 20%” in contrast to the NFL’s 3% and NBA’s 5%. As the news spread across multiple social media platforms, some people are outraged at the variation in the charges between college athletes and the pro level. Others believe this isn’t a credible claim including CFB analyst Josh Pate who opined, “Translation: I’m banking on college players & their families being dumb enough to believe this.” Whether or not there’s truth to this claim, it’s still a wild development that also had Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin’s attention. Sharing Pate’s post on X on January 12, he added his emotions in the caption, “Really sad 💸🔥” 

Per Reisenfeld claims, NIL agents charge 17% and 15% more in college than NFL and NBA, respectively. So the translation would mean that an agent would make $300k in a $10 million NFL deal while a $1 million deal in college could get them $200k. Now this is a messed up structure suggesting foul play if there’s any truth to the claims. 

College athletes are limited to their NIL earnings while pro players make much more in comparison. Also, there are only 32 NFL teams and 30 NBA teams, so a smaller player pool. But think about the 128 FBS football teams as well as the 364 Division 1 basketball teams. It’s nearly eight times bigger than the pro leagues. If what is exposed is true, the collegiate level is a jackpot for sly and scheming agents. But other developments also suggest that the NIL landscape is in capable hands. 

Is the NCAA getting their request fulfilled?

The Republicans may be about to help the NCAA regulate athletic payments with them taking control of Capitol Hill in January. After all, this is exactly what the new Republican leader of the State Commerce Committee envisions. One of his “major priorities” is to pass a law to help the NCAA regulate for college athletes without the surgence of foul play. A draft is currently in process by a bipartisan group of senators to keep the relationship of the NCAA schools intact. 

A big fear of the NCAA officials is that one day their richest schools will have the resources to recruit the best and become invincible, which would make the matchups very incompatible. This stems from the antitrust lawsuits that prevent them from laying down regulations to create equal recruiting opportunities. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is conscious of the problems in the collegiate level. He said, “College sports is in crisis right now. If Congress doesn’t act, we risk seeing devastation.” After all, prevention is better than cure. 

It’s good to see developments happening on this front. And as far as Noah Reisenfeld’s claim is concerned, we’ll be keeping an eye for more updates.