College Sports & NIL

Legal and business developments shaping college athletics, NIL, athlete compensation, eligibility, and NCAA governance.

Business & Deals

+2

The Endorsement Deal Is Becoming an Ownership Deal

Sep 19, 2026

•

10 min read

The Endorsement Deal Is Becoming an Ownership Deal

The old endorsement agreement rented a celebrity’s attention. The emerging model gives athletes, actors, musicians and creators a piece of the business their attention helps build. That changes the economics—but it also changes the risk, the law and what sophisticated talent should negotiate.

Business & Deals

+2

The Endorsement Deal Is Becoming a Cap-Table Deal

Sep 19, 2026

•

10 min read

The Endorsement Deal Is Becoming a Cap-Table Deal

Athletes are increasingly taking ownership alongside endorsement money. The deeper shift is that brands are learning to finance growth with athlete influence—and athletes are deciding that renting out their fame may be less valuable than owning part of what it builds.

Business & Deals

+2

The NCAA’s Biggest Antitrust Problem May Now Be Its Own Record

Sep 19, 2026

•

9 min read

The NCAA’s Biggest Antitrust Problem May Now Be Its Own Record

For decades, the NCAA defended major restraints as necessary to preserve college sports. Then many of those restraints disappeared—and college sports kept going. That history does not make the NCAA’s remaining rules unlawful, but it is making “necessity” harder to prove.

Business & Deals

+2

College Football Finally Has Player Contracts. Ole Miss Is Trying to Enforce One.

Sep 18, 2026

•

10 min read

College Football Finally Has Player Contracts. Ole Miss Is Trying to Enforce One.

Ole Miss says Princewill Umanmielen owes $550,000 for transferring to LSU just weeks after signing a revenue-sharing agreement. No court has ruled that he owes a dollar—but the case may help determine whether college sports’ new player contracts function like real contracts when an athlete wants out.

College Sports & NIL

+1

You Can’t Give Friday Night Back Later

Sep 18, 2026

•

4 min read

You Can’t Give Friday Night Back Later

An Alabama judge blocked the AHSAA from keeping Robertsdale’s football coach off the sideline hours before kickoff. The bigger issue is where athletic-association authority ends and judicial intervention begins.

College Sports & NIL

+1

Every NCAA Eligibility Rule Needs a Line. The Lawsuits Keep Coming From the Other Side of It.

Sep 18, 2026

•

11 min read

Every NCAA Eligibility Rule Needs a Line. The Lawsuits Keep Coming From the Other Side of It.

Presbyterian linebacker Malek Horlback is asking a South Carolina court for a fifth season under the NCAA’s new age-based eligibility model. His lawsuit attacks not the new rule itself, but the line the NCAA drew while transitioning to it.

College Sports & NIL

+1

The NCAA Eligibility Fight Is Becoming a Contract Fight

Sep 16, 2026

•

5 min read

The NCAA Eligibility Fight Is Becoming a Contract Fight

Two Utah Tech volleyball players want a fifth season. The important part is not another eligibility lawsuit—it is the growing effort to turn the NCAA’s own rulebook into an enforceable promise.

College Sports & NIL

+1

Five-for-Five Is Becoming an Every-Sport Problem

Sep 16, 2026

•

5 min read

Five-for-Five Is Becoming an Every-Sport Problem

Two Missouri women’s golfers are the latest athletes challenging the NCAA’s transition rule. Their lawsuit matters because the eligibility fight is no longer just a football-and-basketball problem—it is becoming a roster-management problem across college sports.

College Sports & NIL

+1

Being Hurt by an NCAA Rule Is Not the Same as Proving an Antitrust Violation

Sep 15, 2026

•

9 min read

Being Hurt by an NCAA Rule Is Not the Same as Proving an Antitrust Violation

A Rhode Island judge denied Jake Picard another season at Villanova because antitrust law asks a different question from fairness: not whether an NCAA decision hurt one athlete, but whether the challenged restraint harmed competition in a market.

College Sports & NIL

+1

The NCAA Stopped a Nationwide Fifth-Year Injunction. A Texas Judge Just Rebuilt It for One Baylor Player.

Sep 15, 2026

•

5 min read

The NCAA Stopped a Nationwide Fifth-Year Injunction. A Texas Judge Just Rebuilt It for One Baylor Player.

Traevon Mitchell can keep playing for Baylor after winning a temporary injunction in Texas. His case shows why defeating one nationwide injunction may not restore anything close to a nationwide eligibility rule.

Business & Deals

+2

College Sports Built a Payroll. Now UCLA and Berkeley Are Fighting to Keep It Private.

Sep 15, 2026

•

10 min read

College Sports Built a Payroll. Now UCLA and Berkeley Are Fighting to Keep It Private.

CalMatters is now suing two of California’s flagship public universities over the same post-House question: when a government university pays athletes millions of dollars, how much of that payroll belongs to the public—and how much remains protected as a student record?

Business & Deals

+2

USC Promised Chad Baker-Mazara Millions. His Lawsuit Asks What That Promise Was Really Worth.

Sep 15, 2026

•

10 min read

USC Promised Chad Baker-Mazara Millions. His Lawsuit Asks What That Promise Was Really Worth.

Chad Baker-Mazara says USC stopped paying once its season stopped mattering, kicked him off the team and invoked a “morals clause” to erase the balance. No court has decided whether that happened. But the lawsuit exposes the contractual problem college sports can no longer avoid: when NIL money helps recruit an athlete to play basketball, what happens to the money when the basketball relationship ends?

College Sports & NIL

+1

The NCAA Said No Twice. A Washington Judge Just Said Andrew Cook Can Play.

Sep 15, 2026

•

4 min read

The NCAA Said No Twice. A Washington Judge Just Said Andrew Cook Can Play.

Eastern Washington guard Andrew Cook lost the extra season the NCAA had given him when a catastrophic ankle injury ended his year before it began. After the NCAA denied his request for another season and rejected his appeal, a state court has temporarily put him back on the floor.

College Sports & NIL

+1

Congress Wants to Cap International Athletes at 20% of Every College Team

Sep 15, 2026

•

5 min read

Congress Wants to Cap International Athletes at 20% of Every College Team

The TEAM USA Act would use federal student-aid eligibility to impose a team-by-team roster cap—and some of the sports most dependent on international recruiting would feel it first.

College Sports & NIL

+1

Tamin Lipsey Went Pro. Now He Wants to Go Back to Iowa State.

Sep 15, 2026

•

5 min read

Tamin Lipsey Went Pro. Now He Wants to Go Back to Iowa State.

An Indiana eligibility case just expanded by 89 athletes—and it is exposing how quickly the line between college and professional sports is disappearing.

College Sports & NIL

+1

Louisiana’s Fifth-Year Injunction Survives the SEC’s First Appellate Challenge

Sep 15, 2026

•

5 min read

Louisiana’s Fifth-Year Injunction Survives the SEC’s First Appellate Challenge

The SEC failed to persuade a Louisiana appeals court to stop the order protecting dozens of athletes, including former NFL signees. It is not a final ruling on eligibility—but college sports’ state-by-state rules problem just became harder to dismiss.

College Sports & NIL

+1

High-School Transfer Rules Assume a Student Has a Stable Home. McKinney-Vento Does Not.

Sep 14, 2026

•

9 min read

High-School Transfer Rules Assume a Student Has a Stable Home. McKinney-Vento Does Not.

An Alabama federal judge temporarily blocked the AHSAA from using a student’s unstable residency—the same circumstances that qualified him as an “unaccompanied youth” under federal law—to deny varsity football eligibility. The athlete dismissed the case the next day, leaving behind an important legal theory but no final judgment.

College Sports & NIL

+1

LSU Backed Down. The Fight Over Who Controls College Eligibility Did Not.

Sep 14, 2026

•

5 min read

LSU Backed Down. The Fight Over Who Controls College Eligibility Did Not.

The SEC dropped its threatened expulsion vote after LSU left two former NFL players off its roster. That ended the immediate crisis—and left the most important question unanswered: who has the last word when a court, a conference, and a school collide over eligibility?

Business & Deals

+2

College Sports Built a Payroll. UC Berkeley May Have to Open the Books.

Sep 14, 2026

•

9 min read

College Sports Built a Payroll. UC Berkeley May Have to Open the Books.

CalMatters wants to know exactly how a public university distributed $20.5 million to its athletes. No court has ordered Berkeley to disclose anything yet—but the lawsuit could force college sports to confront a problem the House settlement never solved: professional-style compensation inside institutions still governed by public-records, student-privacy, and potentially Title IX laws.

College Sports & NIL

+1

One NCAA Injunction Is Starting to Cover More Athletes

Sep 14, 2026

•

5 min read

One NCAA Injunction Is Starting to Cover More Athletes

Louisville linebacker Kalib Perry did not start another eligibility lawsuit. He joined an existing one—and the judge extended the existing temporary relief to him.

Business & Deals

+1

College Athletes Are Getting Paid. The Knight Commission Says They Should Get a Vote, Too.

Sep 14, 2026

•

4 min read

College Athletes Are Getting Paid. The Knight Commission Says They Should Get a Vote, Too.

The reform group says athlete voting power should extend beyond the NCAA to the College Football Playoff—putting a new question into the federal college-sports debate: who actually gets to govern the business?

Business & Deals

+2

Who Gets to Write College Sports’ New Rulebook?

Sep 14, 2026

•

10 min read

Who Gets to Write College Sports’ New Rulebook?

The Protect College Sports Act is not simply an attempt to regulate NIL or rescue the NCAA from litigation. It would move some of college sports’ most important economic rules out of private association bylaws and federal courtrooms and into federal law—making the fight over who writes the rules nearly as important as the rules themselves.

Business & Deals

+2

Inside the ACC’s Campaign to Help Shape the Protect College Sports Act

Sep 14, 2026

•

5 min read

Inside the ACC’s Campaign to Help Shape the Protect College Sports Act

Newly released emails show the conference was not merely endorsing the bill from the sidelines. ACC officials were in regular contact with Senate offices, reviewing draft language, coordinating member-school outreach and supplying feedback as Congress negotiated rules that could directly affect conference realignment.

College Sports & NIL

+1

Alex Steen Lost His Eligibility Injunction. The Reason Could Matter Far Beyond One Player.

Sep 14, 2026

•

9 min read

Alex Steen Lost His Eligibility Injunction. The Reason Could Matter Far Beyond One Player.

A Florida judge refused to give the former Florida State forward a fifth season. The ruling does not decide whether the NCAA’s eligibility policy is lawful—but it exposes a new problem for athletes seeking emergency relief in the revenue-sharing era.

Business & Deals

+3

What Happens to a Sports Contract When One Side Files Bankruptcy?

Sep 14, 2026

•

9 min read

What Happens to a Sports Contract When One Side Files Bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy does not simply cancel a sponsorship, player deal, media-rights agreement, or licensing contract. It changes the rules for performance, payment, termination, assignment—and leverage.

The Game Behind The Game

Sports & Entertainment Law + Business Analysis

© 2026 The Game Behind The Game

The Game Behind The Game provides commentary and analysis for informational purposes only. Nothing published here constitutes legal advice, creates an attorney-client relationship, or should be relied upon as a substitute for advice from qualified counsel regarding a particular matter. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s law firm, its attorneys, or its clients.

Home Latest About Subscribe

Disclaimer Privacy

© 2026 The Game Behind The Game.

Powered by beehiiv