The NCAA Division I Council has approved the elimination of the National Letter of Intent (NLI) program effective immediately.
The Council approved the removal of the program on Wednesday morning and the decision will become final once meetings conclude later today.
DI Council approves transition of National Letter of Intent program into NCAA signing and recruiting rules, effective immediately.
Council decisions are not final until meeting concludes later today.
— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) October 9, 2024
The NLI program has been the binding agreement between student-athletes and institutions for the last 60 years, but the D1 Council is transitioning away from it due to the pending changes coming from the NCAA v. House settlement that is expected to take effect next year.
The House settlement will allow schools to pay student-athletes $20-23 million annually, which has led the NCAA to rethink its amateurism rules.
The core recruiting rules that surrounded the NLI program will still be commonplace, but the NLI document itself will be no more.
Instead, written aid offers, such as financial aid and scholarship agreements, are expected to be used. This is expected to streamline the recruiting process and increase flexibility for student-athletes.
— 👁🌳SycamoreRules🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@SycamoreRules) October 9, 2024
Previously, when a prospective student-athlete signed an NLI, they committed to attending that specific school for at least one academic year. Signing an NLI also meant that other schools could no longer actively recruit the student-athlete without penalty. If they transferred, they were required to sit out one semester, though that rule was recently lifted.
The NLI program was overseen by the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA), which has reportedly been pushing for change in recent months and met in September to discuss eliminating it.
Once the dust settles from the NCAA v. House settlement, with the final hearing scheduled for April 2025, a new binding document between a school and student-athlete will need to be created with the introduction of the new revenue-sharing model.
What do these rule changes mean to the Ivy League since the league does not offer athletic scholarships?
Ivy League and Service Academies never participated in the NLI program.
I am pretty sure the removal of the NLI means athletes in 2025 and beyond will no longer be guaranteed the 4 years of athletic scholarship that they were offered under the NLI rules. It will be at the school’s degression as to whether they offer 4 year deals – most athletes will get 1 year deals and have to earn their spot every year. Gives the school’s more flexibility and in general this is bad for prospective student athletes. I do not think schools can pull the money for athletes that have already signed – the NLI was a legal contract.
With professionalism and the transfer portal the NLI becomes less relevant.
Maybe the NLI will be a relic in the future.
SC Roster is now out! And Gretchen is on the roster!!! https://www.instagram.com/p/DA7DhGjPXCK/?igsh=Yndqb2tiMjB2czk3
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP
With NLI’s in place, I believe in most cases those are 4 year scholarship agreements. By taking them away effective immediately, does it make any existing ones null and void? Basically allowing institutions to cull rosters down to 30 (if needed) and not be on the hook for the remaining scholarship money if the SA decides to remain at the school?
NLI is separate from financial aid agreements.
Scholarship agreements are year to year but schools would lose face and recruits if they got a reputation to canceling them.
Except in the Big Ten, coaches can write four year scholarship agreements (and are actually required to). Those agreements can be “you get 50% year 1 and 0% every year thereafter” and then amended in the athlete’s favor if they prove worth it, but they write out four year agreements.
That is a great piece of “INFO” have. Thank you Braden
Waiting to be downvoted on this one as well:
Why don’t we just switch to the employer/employee model. Schools as future potential employers make the offers, and the athletes can entertain many offers. Once the offer is accepted, the employee can still ghost the employer and accept another offer from a school/employer that offers better salary and bonuses.
While we are at it, since this is now a working relationship, there is no need for applications, GPA or standardized test scores. Just 401Ks, signing bonuses, number of days of vacations, and job title (starting QB, super starting QB, ultra super starting QB, executive ultra super starting QB, etc)…. SMH….
Actually, from a performance standpoint, athletes as employees changes the landscape for the better in one (big) regard ….. gotta perform, or you don’t make as much money. No more “guaranteed” scholarships – like now – where only a disciplinary infraction can result in revocation. Sure, now some athletes will make big bucks. But they have to deliver. They are pros now.
Athletes will certainly get more compensation and freedones. BUT be careful what you wish for …..
* freedoms * (autocorrect)
I agree, with a huge caveat…. Vast majority of these “professional” (let’s dispel the notion these are amateur or students) will actually not become professionals. In the past, these “student athletes” leveraged their on the field experiences (and their cool calm demeanors) into good professions in medicine, in law, finance, and many other fields, because university is a place for higher education first.
Now, will they still learn, or will they end up worse off now that they aren’t students anymore?
Such a system will not be a good thing. There will be all sorts of complications, ongoing lawsuits, major disruptions to academic progress as there will be even more roster turnover year to year than we are seeing now–and we’re see a ton now. College sports simply won’t be about “college” anymore.
Not to mention what happens with injuries. The Athletic Trainer(s) is already the MVP of the team. They’re already put in a precarious spot to “just get them through the season” when the athlete is facing long term damage. Is competing in that dual meet REALLY important or is it getting healthy for conference or next year? Will there even be redshirt years anymore?
this is already happening
I don’t think anyone is talking about tax structure. Are these athletes self-employed and now have to file taxes as such or are they employees of the university and get a W-2? What about medical/dental/vision benefits?
Do these kids even know how to do taxes? Can you imagine if there are athletes that get taken to jail for tax fraud because this will be one more thing that they don’t understand? Ignorance isn’t an excuse with Uncle Sam’s money!
It gets worse both for the institutions and the athletes. Professional athletes potentially pay taxes in every state where they play a game plus the location of their home residence. For most athletes, the liability for an individual state may be too low to matter, but not for any that end up highly paid. The institutions need to worry about correct withholding. Then you have minimum wage laws, unemployment, social security, disability
That’s easy to overcome: 1099 them. They are all independent contractors. School pays them in installments based on completion of the “project” (each season of that sport is an individual project), and may opt for additional bonuses for finishing better than expected, or withhold part of the pay if they didn’t produce as well as expected. The “professional” athletes can worry about withholding, social security, retirement, insurances, etc. This makes it easier for schools to do budget planning and administration.
The athletes want a cut of the money, then they’d better learn responsibility really quickly.
There are lots of laws and regulations (and an increasing number every year) about who can be 1099 and who cannot be 1099.
It’s unlikely you can 1099 athletes when you’re trying to schedule practices.
NLI was always kind of stupid but I feel like we are entering a very messy situation. But the entire thing is about to be a complete mess so I guess let’s let it rip and figure out the best path once your in the mess