With final approval being granted on Friday, the House settlement brings several new elements to the NCAA beginning next season, highlighted by the revenue sharing cap and the implementation of roster limits.
One of the controversial aspects of the settlement is the clearinghouse procedure for reviewing NIL deals that exceed $600.
The accounting firm Deloitte has established a clearinghouse, known as NIL Go, that will audit and manage NIL deals, verifying whether or not agreements between athletes and boosters are for a valid business purpose rather than a recruiting incentive.
According to Sportico, “the clearinghouse will use a fair market algorithm to assess if an NIL deal has a plausible relationship to the value of the athlete’s right of publicity in the context of a proposed deal.”
The process of what happens once NIL Go evaluates a deal was recently reported by The Athletic‘s Chris Vannini:
Here’s the process of how NIL deals will be evaluated by the clearinghouse, and what happens if a deal is not approved.
(There will probably be lawsuits) pic.twitter.com/7FfB8eOuDg
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) June 7, 2025
Although there is a concern that the denial of NIL deals will lead athletes and businesses to file lawsuits against the clearinghouse, the presence of arbitration will likely “deter attorneys who would otherwise jump at the chance to bring a lawsuit that would attract media attention,” Sportico‘s Michael McCann reports.
Once a case is taken to arbitration, things are conducted outside of public view, and the arbiter’s decision is final.
The College Sports Commission, which is reportedly looking to hire a lead investigator who would be the arbiter of NIL deals, recently announced MLB executive Bryan Seeley as its CEO.
Imagine being a star in a college sport like Cooper Flagg or Arch Manning or Rex Mauer and having your NIL valuation be determined by some Patagonia vest wearing, straight out of Bschool PE analyst spreadsheet jockey type with 2 years of experience to his/her name.
As Vannini in the linked tweet said “there will be lawsuits”
Maybe for Mauer, but commercially marketable athletes like Flagg and Manning will be done by Deloitte partners
This is the piece that may save Olympic sports. If it survives court challenges, donors won’t be able to throw money at recruits like they have the past few years, so I’m hopeful that a good chunk of that money will be donated to athletic departments that will share it with Olympic sports. I’m hopeful but not confident.