BLOOMINGTON — Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson warned his staff about complacency and stressed the need for a forward-looking vision after the football team’s historic success in 2024.
The words might sound familiar because the message echoes the one coach Curt Cignetti delivered to his locker room throughout the offseason.
“We are a school trying to stay on the cutting edge,” Dolson said after a press event on Friday related to the sponsorship agreement IU athletics signed with Merchants Bank.
That’s especially true when it comes to NIL in the wake of the House v. NCAA settlement. The agreement ushered in a new era of revenue-sharing while putting in place a series of NIL-related restrictions.
Any deal worth $600 or more must now be vetted by a clearinghouse (NIL Go). The NCAA also created the College Sports Commission (CSC) to handle regulation and enforcement of player compensation issues.
The goal was to establish a “fair market value” for NIL deals and ensure they each had a valid business purpose.
Schools across the country are trying to come up with creative ways to facilitate third-party endorsements for their student-athletes. One such recent example is the lucrative apparel deal Tennessee signed with Adidas that will offer Vols athletes “unprecedented NIL opportunities” across all 20 varsity sports.
“It’s been a major focus for us,” Dolson said of NIL. “…In this new world, the clearinghouse, NIL-Go and CSC, and the new enforcement rules, we want to make sure under the guidelines we are given that we are a leader around the country in terms of wanting student-athletes who come here feel like they can maximize that opportunity.”
While some coaches hoped the new rules would create a more equal playing field, NIL deals aren’t going anywhere.
Per recent reports, the CSC cleared 5,100 NIL deals from June 11 to August 20 and there are already 23,200 athletes registered with NIL Go. The deals that have been vetted range from the $600 minimum to $1.5 million.
Indiana’s past NIL resources helped basketball coach Darian DeVries put together his talent-laden roster in April. Cignetti touted IU’s commitment each of the past two seasons for helping his assembly highly ranked transfer classes.
Dolson doesn’t want to see the Hoosiers taking a step back.
“We do a lot of brainstorming, taking the pulse around the country and seeing what’s out there and given the rules we are given how we can compete,” Dolson said. “We met on that and talk about that a lot, it’s super important to us.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: ‘It’s super important to us’: How Indiana athletics is adapting to ever-changing NIL landscape
Reporting by Michael Niziolek, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
