Student-athletes in Florida could see a portion of their funds from name, image and likeness (NIL) deals put into a professionally managed trust, under a suggestion put forward by a state panel on college athletics.
The panel is also considering recommending more oversight of agents working for collegiate athletes, limiting transfers between schools and exempting schools from federal antitrust laws to shield them from lawsuits on compensation.
Ken Jones, chairman of the State University System’s Task Force on Intercollegiate Athletics, said Thursday his trust proposal is just one possible approach to the patchwork of state rules that have unsettled college athletics since NIL deals were allowed under the federal settlement with the National Collegiate Athletics Association in 2021.
“Building such a (trust) model could help stabilize what is currently an increasingly purely transactional system,” Jones said to open the task force meeting at the University of South Florida.
The task force continues to gather info on changes it could recommend to keep Florida schools competitive in the changing economic landscape that saw the Big 12 Conference strike a $500 million private equity investment deal this week with RedBird Capital Partners and Weatherford Capital. The Big 12 includes the University of Central Florida.
University of South Florida CEO of Athletics Rob Higgins said regulations are needed for agents, including making financial arrangements with students transparent.
“There are a lot of bad actors out there. There's some really great agents as well that represent everybody's best interests,” Higgins said. “But at the same time, we've got to make sure our student athletes are knowledgeable, they're protected.”
Higgins also suggested the state work with state associations or agencies that help student-athletes with their NIL opportunities, from promoting businesses to their personal brands.
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University of Florida Men’s Basketball Coach Todd Golden told the panel non-revenue sports need to be a key part of any NIL conversation. Golden also agreed with Higgins regarding agents.
Golden said some people have changed careers from “barbers or trainers into NIL representation in the span of two or three months because they see the opportunity to make a 10- to 15-percent fee off students that honestly don't really need the services all that much.”
But Golden also cautioned some Florida-only rules on agents could hinder recruitment in the state if agents see a bigger payday from a non-Florida school.
University of Florida Deputy Athletic Director Amy Hass said more talk is needed with student-athletes, administrators and coaches as “a lot of people are spending their time being emotionally in their feelings about it and wishing it were what it used to be 10 years ago.”
The state task force is intended to build on a March 6 meeting held by President Donald Trump on college sports that included Gov. Ron DeSantis among the panelists.
Trump signed an executive order on April 3 that calls for the NCAA to set a five-year participation limit for individuals, cap student-athlete transfers to one in a five-year period and a second one for those who earn a four-year degree, and to create a national registry for agents to monitor NIL activity.
The NCAA is also urged to update rules to protect women’s and Olympic sports through “sustainable” revenue sharing. The federal government would withhold funding from universities that don’t comply with Trump’s order.
U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Tampa, last week announced plans to file a bill backing Trump’s proposals.
“We cannot sit back while college sports become unregulated professional free agency in a university jersey,” Moody stated. “Seventeen-year-olds are being asked to compete against 25-year-olds, and players are hopping from school to school each year, chasing money instead of excellence.”
The NCAA is expected to address the age eligibility issue this summer.
Several speakers Thursday said some student-athletes want to stay in school as long as possible because NIL deals bring more money than they could make as professional athletes.
Jones said regulations will come from different levels: the schools, the state Board of Governors, legislators, Congress and the courts.
The courts may have the biggest impact, he said, adding that immediate assistance from Congress won’t likely be forthcoming.
“College athletics, while incredibly important to the economy and to student life in this country, is probably not going to rise to the top of the list of things for the (U.S.) House or the Senate to consider in our lifetime,” Jones said.
State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said another path forward could be interstate compacts as Florida schools are in conferences that cover multiple states.
Florida State University Board of Trustees Chairman Peter Collins, a co-founder and managing principal of Forge Capital Partners, said there are things the university system Board of Governors and Legislature can do to keep Florida schools on a more competitive playing field.
While saying he wasn’t pushing for a change, Collins noted schools in Florida can’t raise student activity fees because state leaders have frozen tuition for more than a decade.
