Navigating the NIL landscape has been a complex and often frustrating challenge for college coaches, especially for Kirby Smart, who leads a powerhouse program like Georgia.
However, the situation is expected to stabilize soon with the House settlement, which will impose limits on how much an athletic department can allocate for NIL in a given year.
Until those regulations take effect, NIL remains largely unregulated, something Smart finds concerning.
“We’ve discussed the House settlement,” Smart said via 247Sports.com. “Right now, you’re working with two key dates—the portal date and the House settlement date. A lot of people are operating within the rules, but there’s likely going to be a surge… Agents and representatives are trying to maximize deals for their clients. But in the end, it could backfire because once the cap is enforced, there will be a market correction.”
Kirby Smart is concerned for the players
As Smart shared above, players and agents are working hard to sign NIL deals worth as much as possible before this House settlement arrives. Once that settlement is official, then players won’t be able to capitalize on the crazy NIL market like they have been. But Smart is predicting a major correction to take place a year after the settlement when every player is starting fresh with these new NIL cap requirements.
Players will likely have to take a pay decrease when this settlement is official, which is something none of them will want to see happen. But that unfortunately is just the reality of the situation.
Thankfully it sounds like Georgia isn’t as wild with their spending like some other schools, so this adjustment may not be as difficult for them. But Smart is very concerned with how this will impact college athletes across the country, so stay tuned as this House settlement will send shockwaves throughout the college football world.
