Overview
On September 4, 2025, the newly formed College Sports Commission (CSC) published its inaugural "NIL Deal Flow Report" (the Report) summarizing the more than 6,000 Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals between collegiate student-athletes and third-party NIL sponsors. These deals were submitted to the CSC's online portal, NIL Go, between June 11, 2025, and August 31, 2025.
According to the Report, the total value of these deals exceeds $35 million. The Report is the first of what will be a series of recurring updates from the CSC. It provides valuable insight to colleges, third-party NIL sponsors and collectives, and student-athletes alike on the level of scrutiny that such NIL deals are likely to face going forward, along with potential challenges to deal clearance.
The House Settlement
The CSC was formed by the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC (collectively, the Conferences), and NCAA in response to the settlement in House v. NCAA, which Judge Claudia Wilken of the US District Court for the Northern District of California approved on June 6, 2025 (the House Settlement). As discussed in Steptoe's prior update NCAA Settlement Will Allow Direct Payment to Athletes, the House Settlement resolved lawsuits brought by current and former collegiate student-athletes against the NCAA and the Conferences seeking to recoup NIL damages and to force the Conferences and the NCAA to lift restrictions on revenue sharing from broadcast rights. Ultimately, the Settlement paves the way for collegiate student-athletes to receive compensation from third-party sponsors through NIL sponsorship agreements.
Under the House Settlement, the NCAA and Conferences agreed to appoint a "Designated Reporting Entity," responsible for ensuring compliance with the Settlement's terms, including a framework for third-party NIL deals. On the same day Judge Wilken approved the House Settlement, the NCAA and Conferences formally launched the CSC to serve as the Designated Reporting Entity. The CSC, in turn, launched NIL Go, an online clearinghouse where student-athletes must submit the details of their NIL deals with a total value of $600 or more for CSC review for compliance with the Settlement.
Compliance Standards
The Settlement sets forth both limitations on third-party compensation from sources other than schools and affiliates, as well as a mechanism for policing those limitations. NCAA Division I student-athletes may license their NIL rights to third-party entities subject to review and approval by the CSC. As head of the reviewing entity, CSC CEO Bryan Seeley has said that "pay-for-play will not be permitted, and every NIL deal done with a student-athlete must be a legitimate NIL deal, not pay-for-play in disguise."1
The CSC will only "clear" an NIL deal if it determines that the "license/payment is for a valid business purpose related to the promotion or endorsement of goods or services provided to the general public for profit, with compensation at rates and terms commensurate with compensation paid to similarly situated individuals with comparable NIL value" .2 3
Since this compliance program is in its infancy, it is no surprise that what deals will be approved remains ambiguous. To clarify these standards for Division I institutions and student-athletes, the CSC has advised that its "‘for profit' inquiry focuses on whether the sale of goods or services is for profit and not whether the entity itself is operating at a profit or a loss at any given time." Similarly, the CSC has said that determining whether a deal falls within a "reasonable range of compensation" is "based upon multiple factors, including but not limited to, the deal's performance obligations, the student-athlete's athletic performance and social media reach, the local market, and the market reach of his or her institution and program."4
The NIL Deal Flow Report
Under these standards, the CSC reported in its first NIL Deal Flow Report that thousands of NIL deals, worth a combined value of $35.42 million, were submitted to NIL Go from its launch on June 11 through August 31, 2025. The CSC originally reported nearly $80 million in NIL deals being approved, but revised that number down by more than $40 million, blaming a "clerical reporting error."5 In total, 6,090 deals were approved, which Seeley asserts demonstrates that "the new system is working as intended: legitimate NIL deals are being submitted, reviewed and approved through NIL Go."6
That said, officials from a number of NIL collectives have reported challenges during this process. They cited that the CSC denied 120 of their submitted NIL deals7, while 2,003 reported deals are still pending review.8 Despite the guidance provided by the NCAA and the Conferences, CSC stated in its Flow Report that one of the "Most Common Clearance Issues" in these initial weeks was deals not satisfying the "valid business purpose" requirement.
It would seem, then, that while the CSC and NIL collectives may have been able to resolve their biggest disagreements over the definition of a "valid business purpose" that threatened the House Settlement's viability in the days following its approval by Judge Wilkin,9 differing interpretations of the otherwise undefined term remain.
Looking Ahead and Lingering Questions
Overall, the initial rollout of the NIL clearinghouse envisioned under the House Settlement appears largely to have been successful thus far. It has streamlined the process for review and approval of NIL deals between third-party NIL sponsors and Division I student-athletes. Approvals of NIL deals far outweigh rejections in the early days of this post-House reality. This has allowed players to move forward with confidence that their eligibility will not be subject to scrutiny down the line. Schools and their respective teams can similarly operate without fear of financial penalties or forfeited wins for fielding ineligible players.
But questions persist. Despite efforts at clarification by the NCAA and the Conferences, it appears that they are not fully aligned with NIL sponsors and student-athletes as to the definition of a "valid business purpose." According to the Flow Report, no student-athletes have sought arbitration under the terms of the House Settlement over the CSC's refusal to clear an NIL deal. If and when such arbitrations are initiated, their outcomes may shed light on how this language should be interpreted going forward.
Member colleges, third-party NIL sponsors, and student-athletes are advised to continue monitoring this space, including for reporting on the outcomes of any such arbitration, the CSC's future NIL Flow Reports, and any additional guidance from the CSC, NCAA, or Conferences that might provide additional insight on how to best meet the CSC's clearance requirements.
Steptoe stands ready to advise universities, agencies, student-athletes and their representatives — as well as third-party sponsors — in navigating compliance with these new NIL rules.
1 Peter Nakos, NIL Go clears $35 million in debut report, On3, https://www.on3.com/nil/news/nil-go-clears-79-8-million-in-debut-report/ dated Sept 4, 2025.
2 Second Amended Injunctive Relief Settlement, Art. 4 Sec. 3.
3 Case No. 4:20-CV-03919 Document 980-2 filed June 6, 2025.
4 College Sports Commission, https://www.collegesportscommission.org/nil/ last visited September 9, 2025.
5 ESPN, Commission: Overstated worth of cleared NIL deals by $44.4M, https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46170291/csc-reveals-overstated-worth-approved-nil-deals-40m-plus dated September 5, 2025.
8 ESPN, Commission: Overstated worth of cleared NIL deals by $44.4M, https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46170291/csc-reveals-overstated-worth-approved-nil-deals-40m-plus dated September 5, 2025.
9 Eddie Pells, Argument over "valid business purpose" for NIL collectives threatens college sports settlement, Associated Press, https://apnews.com/article/nil-ncaa-house-settlement-6c743730c9c3ddcc3f4e787995ddd9e5 last updated July 15, 2025; Eddie Pells, The new college sports agency is rejecting some athlete NIL deals with donor-backed collectives, Associated Press, https://apnews.com/article/nil-college-payments-71c0e114c9feb1e1a9e3651df2149123 last updated July 11, 2025.
