(That didn’t take long. Within weeks of the incompetent NCAA’s decision to allow college athletes to be compensated for commercial use of their names, likenesses and images, win-at-all-costs abused the spirit of that fair policy by using NIL for recruiting.

That has created an unregulated free agency in college sports, a pay-to-play regime for highly rated prospects and transfers, which was not the intent of NIL.

For decades, universities, football bowls and the NCAA itself reaped hundreds of billions of dollars from college sports, feasting on essentially free labor and prohibiting athletes from receiving any benefit from the lucrative marketing of their names, likenesses and images.

Some universities have started programs to help athletes generate revenue, and to ensure fair distribution of marketing revenue generated by the athletic departments. But others have dangled NIL money as recruiting incentives. The most controversial case is that of Jordan Addison, a star University of Pittsburgh receiver who plans to transfer. Pitt officials have claimed that the University of Southern California put together a $3 million NIL deal to lure Addison, but that has not been verified and he has not yet transferred.

New rules that allow athletes to transfer are fair because the players have a narrow window to get on the field and display their talents, and they — just like their coaches — should have that opportunity.

But regarding NIL, a key question always has been how schools with less affluent athletic programs than others will be able to compete for talent. The NCAA should begin to answer that by definitively separating NIL from recruiting, and outlawing its use relative to the transfer portal.

— The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre via TNS