Lawmakers attempt to tackle NIL, giving it the 'old college try'
Congress has done nil to fix NIL in college sports.Lawmakers get another chance to tackle NIL in early 2026. Let’s start with terms."NIL" refers to "name, image, likeness." College athletes...
By Fox News · Fox News
Congress has done nil to fix NIL in college sports. Lawmakers get another chance to tackle NIL in early 2026. Let’s start with terms. "NIL" refers to "name, image, likeness." College athletes have made bank over the past few years, marketing themselves as their own product. They skip from school to school for more playing time. A bigger spotlight. And that leads to a better NIL deal. Translation: You’ll probably make more from your NIL contract if you play for Ohio State and not North Dakota State. TRUMP RIPS NIL ‘DISASTER’ IN OVAL OFFICE, WARNS IT’S KILLING COLLEGE SPORTS As everyone watches bowl games and the College Football Playoff this holiday season, fans inevitably crow about the lack of parity for schools from the Big 10 and SEC compared to the Mid-American Conference and Sunbelt Conference. James Madison, we’re looking at you. The NCAA appears incapacitated to act to rein in NIL and issue nationwide rules . So, they’ve turned to Congress for a fix. Good luck with that. The House tried to advance a bill in early December. But that legislation plunged into a toxic political scrum. First of all, many Democrats opposed the bill . The legislation then lacked the votes thanks to some GOP defections. The timing of the legislation was in question, too. The House wasn’t addressing annual spending bills or health care, but college sports. Some Republicans thought this was a bad optic. This commotion came just as former Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin defected to SEC rival Louisiana State University (LSU) for a king’s ransom. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y ., wasted no time noting that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., are both LSU graduates and superfans of the school’s athletic programs. Jeffries questioned whether well-moneyed alumni connected to the school advocated for Johnson and Scalise to push the NIL bill at that time. Jeffries then anointed the legislation the "Lane Kiffin Protection Ac…