— Insights · NIL
34,195 approved deals. $355M cleared, $90M rejected. The House settlement stopped being theoretical and became the operating system for college sports.
Insights
The College Sports Commission dropped its July report this week, and the headline figure is 34,195 NIL deals approved — worth a combined $355.24 million — since the settlement framework went live. Think about that for a second. Thirty-four thousand deals processed through the compliance apparatus. That's not a loophole economy anymore — that's an industry.
Insights
American Athletic Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti came out swinging at the American's 2026 media days in support of the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act. His words:
Insights
Ohio State's estimated NIL spending for their 2025 roster hit roughly $35 million. Texas was right behind them in the $35–40 million range — and has since moved to the top of 2026 valuations at an estimated $47.9 million. Those aren't typos. That's college football in 2026.
Insights
FIRE — the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression — published a piece this week on what they're calling a constitutional problem buried in the new NIL regulation framework. Specifically: if schools can adopt vague values standards to reject NIL deals, they could effectively deny athletic eligibility based on protected speech. A kid who partners with a gun shop, a cannabis brand, a political campaign — any of it could become a target under policies that hand administrators broad discretion to define what is offensive or antithetical to institutional values.
Insights
Here's the honest reality for lacrosse: NIL hasn't penetrated our sport the way it has football and basketball. The top earners in college sports right now are revenue-sport athletes with massive social followings and brand crossover appeal. Lacrosse doesn't have that infrastructure yet.