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Takeaways from the Key Notes
- President Trump's Department of Education rescinded a Biden-era memo that said Name, Image, and Likeness payments must be given in proportion to the number of male and female student-athletes at a given school.
- According to the Biden-administration memorandum, NIL payments must be aligned with Title IX policy.
- If approved by the judge in April then colleges could share as much as $20.5 million to their athletes. Today's action means NIL payments would not have to be proportional to the number of students of each sex participating in athletics at that school.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration took on the billion-dollar issue of compensating college athletes. It canceled a memo from Biden’s time that had ordered equal payments to men and women.
The Department of Education released a memo in the final days of the presidency of Joe Biden that stated Name, Image and Likeness payments (NILs) are considered financial aid. “under Title IX, must be made available to male and female student-athletes in a manner that is substantially proportionate to the number of students of each sex participating in interscholastic or intercollegiate athletics at that school.”
The Department of Education under President Donald Trump rescinded the memo and stated that Title IX did not apply to student-athletes’ compensation. This move may shake up NIL in an industry that has seen in the last few years high-profile sports stars at big universities receive large sums of money, while lesser-known athletes from smaller schools have received less.
“The claim that Title IX forces schools and colleges to distribute student-athlete revenues proportionately based on gender equity considerations is sweeping and would require clear legal authority to support it. That does not exist,” Craig Trainor is the Department of Education’s acting assistant secretar for civil rights.
National Collegiate Athletic Association has not responded to an immediate request for a statement. Since the 1970s, college athletes were prohibited from receiving money as endorsements or for advertisements. This policy began changing in 2021.
According to the NCAA, it has recently reached a settlement with a judge that, should the court approve the agreement this spring, will allow for the creation of a $20.5 million pool in the first season to distribute to athletes. Biden’s letter in January forced schools across the country to revise their revenue-sharing programs.
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