Why the NCAA is considering BYU foot-traffic study contract, and why experts say it was inevitable

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The CEO put his arm around BYU freshman quarterback Nick Billoups and shared a story he’d heard about how the walk-on felt like he’d become “part of something” since arriving in Provo. He described Billoups as a “fighter” and then said the words that frenzied the entire room.

“At Built, we want you to be the # 1 employee,” said Nick Greer, CEO of Built Bar. “We want to pay your tuition fees.”

Green later asked each BYU visitor to stand up and described them as “Employees 1-36,” suggesting that Built would pay tuition for everyone last fall. The players in the room went wild.

Greer and his company signed a multi-year naming, image and similarity agreement with all 123 BYU soccer players in August. The deal gives scholars an opportunity to earn $ 1,000 for promoting the brand in certain ways.

However, non-grant recipients can earn the equivalent of the cost of attending BYU. Their compensation is paid directly to them and they can spend that money however they want, assistant sports director Gary Veron told ESPN.

Last fall, a video showing BYU walk-ons learning how their classes are being treated went viral. Now the nature of the deal between Built and the school is the subject of an investigation by the NCAA, according to a report in Sportico. Of interest to the College Athletics Federation is whether the agreement violates the pay-for-play rules that compensate for their name, image and likeness (NIL) despite a change earlier this year that allows student athletes to be are still valid.

“We have been communicating with the NCAA regarding the Built Bar NIL agreement,” said Jon McBride, BYU’s assistant sports director, in a statement. “You have told us that you have no further questions at this time. We will continue to monitor and comply with the NCAA’s interim NIL guideline. “

The NCAA is also considering a team-wide NIL deal at the University of Miami that will cover all athletes with scholarships, according to Sportico. NCAA President Mark Emmert recently said that “a number” of schools are being investigated for possible NIL violations.

College athletics and sports culture experts who spoke to The Tribune view BYU’s deal with Built and the NCAA’s interest in it as the inevitable result of a nebulous NIL compensation policy.

The only thing that the NCAA rules say is that athletes can be paid for their names, pictures, and likeness as long as they comply with NIL laws in their respective states. If their state doesn’t have a law, they can still benefit as long as they don’t break NCAA rules. Utah has no such law.

The NCAA’s concern has always been what is referred to as “pay for play,” which essentially boils down to a player receiving a salary for playing their sport. This idea violates the NCAA’s rules of amateurism and the concept of a “student-athlete”.

But BYU and Miami’s NIL deals might be on the line, experts said.

“I think these are two situations in which the pay-to-play strategy puts the NCAA in a position where it has to react almost publicly,” said Daniel Durbin, director of the Annenberg Institute of Sport, Media and Society from the University of Southern California. “And it can be the tip of the iceberg to some extent.”

BYU officials are cooperating with the NCAA investigation. Coach Kalani Sitake, who was exuberant on the partnership when the partnership was announced, didn’t appear concerned about the NCAA’s investigation when asked about it Wednesday.

“We have nothing to hide,” said Sitake. “Our players are important to us, and that also means our walk-in customers. So if you want to question that, that’s fine. We’ll be fine. “

Steven Rackley, a professor in the Sports Management Program at Rice University with more than 20 years of college sports director experience, argues that the NCAA had plenty of time ironing out a coherent NIL structure that was unsuitable for school flirting with rule violators .

“What bothers me about the NCAA is that they had a year and a half to figure this out, and they didn’t,” said Rackley, who received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah. “They spent their time getting Congress to pass a law at the national level. Before that, they fought against it for years. “

The NCAA lost a class action lawsuit in 2014 filed five years earlier by former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon, which was joined by Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, and several others. The judge ruled that denying athletes payment for their names, pictures and likeness was against antitrust law.

California then passed its own NIL law in September 2019, although the NCAA actively opposed it by sending a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom arguing that the law would “turn the playing field on all student athletes on its head” . This law was originally scheduled to go into effect in 2023 before the NCAA reversed course and announced its own interim rules, which would go into effect on July 1, 2021.

Durbin said the NCAA is likely interested in BYU, especially because the university has been open about compensating players, especially the walk-ons. Describing the video of Greer’s speech, he said that five years ago something like this “would go so far that they will close your program”.

In Durbin’s eyes, BYU’s deal with Built is effectively a “pay-for-play” situation.

“You’re essentially getting to the point where it’s a pay-to-play,” Durbin said. “If you even give money to non-scholarship players, but only for one sport, then there is a pay-to-play element: ‘We’ll pay you to be on this team’.”

The NCAA allows a maximum of 85 scholarships for each Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team. Any NIL deal like BYU’s that gives anyone outside those 85 opportunities for financial relief would likely be welcome. Second year offensive lineman Clark Barrington said earlier this week he was unaware of the NCAA’s investigation but was in favor of the partnership.

“We’re excited to partner with Built Bar and the guys are doing their job to keep our end of the deal going and Built Bar is holding them out,” said Barrington. “It’s been a blessing for many guys on the team and we look forward to continuing this partnership.”

The NCAA’s actions in both the past and with BYU and Miami now indicate what Durbin and Rackley see as the declining influence of the governing body and its attempt to define the limits of NIL payments. But Rackley didn’t seem confident that the NCAA would succeed in this endeavor.

“If I just look at your very vague guidelines, I don’t see how you can do that,” Rackley said. “It seems to me that they are shooting here in the dark, hoping to hit something.”

More potential NIL violations will emerge in the coming months as more universities and their athletes sign sponsorship deals and the NCAA continues to define what crosses the line. Rackley believes a more balanced approach is likely to solidify over the next few years.

In the meantime, the outcome of the NCAA’s interest in BYU and Miami could point to what happens next in the NIL area.

“My guess is that this will set a precedent,” said Durbin. “Whatever your response will set a precedent for the NCAA to respond to the next situation. I think … they want to set a precedent for what their rules mean. “