HungryCalBear said:
A Boise State coach says their NIL "salary cap" is at $2M; an un-named middle-of-the-pack Big 12 team's cap is at $12.5M. Anyone knows roughly what is it at Cal? I'm very happy to read about all the recent transfers, thanks to California Legends Collective!
There is no cap. The House settlement caps direct revenue payments at about $20M annually. But that is just what the school can pay directly. There will be outside collectives still at most schools. Not sure if Cal will continue with that or not. Most schools will be using a distribution model of 75% to football or up to $15M per year.
I think Cal is planning for around $12M in direct revenue payments starting on July 1. That is dependent on the House settlement getting final approval.
Between the House settlement and outside collective most of the big programs will be over $20M in annual payments to players.
The payments from the school are considered direct revenue payments and not NIL. NIL will be all the oustide monies a collective can raise. Those payments are supposed to be reported to an outside clearinghouse that will monitor the payments and the sources. The payments are supposed to be capped at $600 per deal and be a legit NIL source not simply boosters. Good luck getting that to pass muster in court.
Until Congress intercedes and creates some anti-trust exemptions for the schools (NCAA) this will continue to be the wild wild west.
The $20M in direct payments the settlement allows is a cap. Not a floor. So it is up to each school to decide on the level they can afford to pay. Since the ACC and Big 12 receive significantly less TV revenues they likely will have lower budgets. The G5 like Boise State are in a real bind as their revenues are much less than the P4. But since outside collectives will continue to exist the cap is really the 75% in direct revenues plus any oustide collective payments which are capped only by what they can collect in donations and the few legit opportunities they secure.