NIL Regulations and Laws

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Key Takeaway:

After decades of minimal federal activity, the Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act (SPARTA) is drawing renewed attention. A January 2026 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) inquiry into sports agent practices may signal a meaningful shift in enforcement — particularly in the NIL era.

On January 8, the College Sports Commission (CSC) issued guidance in direct response to a recent news report from Yahoo Sports that examined college football student-athletes being offered third-party NIL deals that violate the terms of the House settlement — making promises of third-party NIL money that does not yet exist — designed to induce transfers or retain players.

In this episode of Highway to NIL, Troutman Pepper Locke attorneys Cal Stein, Chris Brolley, and George Pla look at the post-House settlement landscape, including the revenue-sharing pool that allows schools to pay athletes up to 22% of athletic revenue. They examine how those payments may impact athletic budgets and nonrevenue sports, and how schools may seek to make up any shortfalls by, among other things, maximizing their media rights revenue through incentive-based agreements and exploring private capital investments.

The NCAA Division I Board of Directors has adopted emergency legislation that allows the College Sports Commission (CSC) to declare Division I student-athletes ineligible for failing to disclose noninstitutional name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals within five days of entering into those deals. The emergency amendment also imposes obligations on institutions that learn that a student-athlete has failed to disclose the NIL deal.

On October 8, the College Sports Commission (CSC) launched an anonymous tipline that facilitates the confidential reporting of possible violations related to third-party name, image, and likeness (NIL) agreements and revenue distribution in college athletics. This comes after Front Office Sports reported that several major power conference collectives are giving up on trying to work through the NIL Go clearinghouse established in the House v. NCAA settlement. We have previously written about the terms of the House settlement.

As we reported last week, the College Sports Commission (CSC) issued initial guidance on how it would evaluate student-athlete NIL deals. As part of that guidance, the CSC promised to make available additional information “pending discussions with House class counsel.”

How NCAA Division I conferences choose to deal with the implications of the House, et al., v. NCAA, et al. settlement, and in particular the revenue-sharing mechanism known as the “pool,” has been the subject of much speculation and debate. Commentators have asked whether conferences will require participation, or leave…