In this week’s Film Room, we break down:
- newly released third-party NIL data by the College Sports Commission (CSC)
- a major impending change to the transfer portal calendar
Unpacking CSC third-party NIL data
On September 4, the CSC released data regarding submitted third-party NIL transactions, noting the number, value and status of deals submitted. On September 5, the CSC published revised data, following a clerical error.
The revised data indicate that, as of August 31:
- 8,359 deals have been submitted in NIL Go
- the value of the submitted deals is $79.8M
- of the 8,359 deals submitted, 6,090 have been cleared
- the value of the 6,090 cleared deals is $35.42M
- 332 deals have not been cleared to date
Let’s unpack the numbers. The average value of a cleared deal is $5,816 ($35.42M/6,090). 2,269 deals (8,359-6,090)—over a quarter of the 8,359 deals submitted—are waiting to be reviewed or have not been cleared. The average value of these 2,269 deals is $19,559 ($44.38M/2,269), nearly four times greater than the value of deals that have been cleared.
The CSC reported that the “most common clearance issues” include:
- Delay in attesting to or providing required information
- Contradictory deal terms, misreporting of deal terms and/or mistakes made in entering deal terms
- Deal does not satisfy valid business purpose requirement
What to do?
Participants can increase the likelihood of expeditious clearance by including information, data and business rationale of deals in submission materials. As we’ve previously noted, this likely calls for an adjustment to standard NIL agreements, which may not otherwise explain the rationale and basis for a deal. Also, Q&A E9-11 of this summer’s House Implementation Q&A helpfully noted baseline data that must be submitted with deals.
Relatedly, the membership continues to await publication of the CSC’s detailed policies and procedures. We’ve previously noted that these regulations will be critical for institutions and other participants to digest and implement in their approach to third-party NIL.
Recommended change to the transfer portal calendar
On September 4, the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Oversight Committee recommended a major change to the football calendar that would impact transfer portal timing.
Under the recommendation, football student-athletes could enter the portal January 2-11. If the recommendation is adopted by the Division I Administrative Committee—whose vote is expected to occur by October 1—the proposed 10-day window in early January would replace the current calendar, which allows football student-athletes to enter the portal during a 20-day window in December and a 10-day window in April.
To be clear, the portal window timing only determines when a student-athlete may enter the portal. It does not limit transfer activity to that window. For example, a student-athlete who enters the portal during an applicable window can transfer to a new institution weeks after the window closes. So, if the recommendation is adopted, there will still be transfer activity after January 11. However, the proposal would have a big impact on the spring calendar. With the removal of the April window, the universe of football student-athletes who might transfer would be limited to those who enter the portal in early January. Practically, we can expect the overwhelming majority of transfer activity to cluster around the end of the season in January.
There is no shortage of opinions when it comes to the football calendar. Some will no doubt question a new window that closes before the football season concludes (the CFP championship game is scheduled for January 19, 2026, in Miami). However, the spring semester will commence on many campuses by the time the championship game kicks off, and the proposed new window offers a time frame that aims to balance competing concerns.
We’ll continue to keep you posted on all the above.
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