The Future of NIL

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Last week, the NCAA launched a forensic investigation into the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) football program following public complaints alleging potential tampering involving linebacker Luke Ferrelli. Ferrelli, the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year as a member of the University of California, Berkeley during the 2025 season, entered the transfer portal this offseason, signed a revenue-sharing contract with Clemson, then later reentered the portal and ultimately transferred to Ole Miss.

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.

This week, the College Sports Commission (CSC) released its first NIL Deal Flow Report, providing a snapshot of activity across its NIL Go platform, though the rollout of the data was not without issue. The report captures platform and deal activity from June 11, 2025 — the date the platform launched — through August 31, 2025. The CSC released its initial report on September 4. On September 5, the CSC issued a corrected report, indicating that the misreported results were attributable to errors made by its outside consulting firm.

Recently, the University of Kentucky took an interesting step in the context of collegiate athletics by converting its athletic department into a limited liability company (LLC), named Champions Blue LLC. This structure makes Kentucky the first university in the U.S. to restructure its athletic department in this manner. The move reflects a growing awareness among universities that the traditional model of collegiate sports may no longer be the most financially or legally sustainable model in the face of mounting pressures from name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals, antitrust litigation, and evolving NCAA regulations.