I was a collegiate athlete 50 years ago in a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I track and field program (University of Tennessee) and we were governed by strict rules on what kind of compensation we could have for our sport. According to NCAA rules, our compensation was limited to scholarships for tuition, room and board, and $15 a month for laundry. Any payments outside of those parameters could land a program in trouble with the NCAA.

Rules, of course, were made to be broken and most programs broke the rules. Some were caught, but most were not. To be honest, the amounts of money paid under the table to athletes were pocket change compared to what athletes can make today, thanks to court decisions and a huge change in the direction of college sports.

There is no doubt that NIL will change college sports. Those of us who have a strong interest in the so-called minor sports such as track and field and volleyball await the changes nervously, as athletes in these sports don’t have the same kind of draw with the fans that an all-star quarterback will have and the cross-sport subsidies that characterized much of college athletics for years are surely going to be reduced. It will be a while before we get a clear picture of things there.