Jeremy Henderson Capstone
Interaction with someone involved with the process
Dr. Ariel Dulitzky
On October 27, 2022, I conducted a Zoom interview with Dr. Ariel Dulitzky from the University of Texas. He is a clinical professor that specializes in sports law, Latin-American law, international litigation, international human rights law, and foreign and international law. He has held various positions in the United States and Argentina with groups like the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the Law Review at the University of Buenos Aires. Dulitzky earned his Juris Doctor in Argentina and then earned his Master of Law from Harvard University in 1999. Professor Dulitzky spoke with me from two valuable perspectives: one, the perspective of a professor who sees the effects on the student-athletes at UT (one of the NIL powerhouses), and, two, the perspective of someone with some knowledge about sports law. Below, I have laid out some of the key takeaways from a few different topics that we discussed.
Should college athletes be allowed to make money?
Dr. Dulitzky stated that because "athletes bring in so much money for the school, they should be able to make money for themselves too". This has been a controversial question in college sports for about twenty years. The most notable cases are the Reggie Bush incident in 2010 and the Johnny Manziel incident in 2012. In 2005, Reggie Bush became the only unanimous Heisman Trophy winner in college football history. His glory and fame would come to an unfortunate end in 2010 after a 4-year investigation into his receiving money from boosters and fans illegally. In 2012, Johnny Manziel had a season similar to Bush's as he became the first and only freshman to ever win the Heisman Trophy. Similar to Bush, he was too caught up in his fame and got too ahead of himself when it came to making money. In 2021, Johnny Football admitted to accepting $35K for signing thousands of autographs and almost had his trophy stripped from him. These two incidents played a major role in the bill proposal for NIL deals. After these two were punished they worked together with many other athletes and lawmakers to construct a bill that would protect current and future athletes from being chastised for making money. One of their main arguments was that they generated millions of dollars in revenue because of the skill and excitement they brought to the field weekly, so it is only fair that they make money for themselves too.
Team v. Individual NIL Contracts?
Dr. Dulitzky is a firm believer that there is no "I" in team, period. A team makes the player better just as much as the player makes the team better; therefore, a collective NIL deal would be the most appropriate option. Some teams have already started exercising this belief. Texas Tech University was the first to try this out. The Matador Booster Club announced before the season opener that they would pay all 100 players, scholarship and walk-ons, $25,000 for being on the team, meaning they wouldn't have to do any promotions or anything. Another example is the football team at Brigham Young University. They partnered with Built Brand, a protein nutrition company, this football season. Built Brand offered the entire 123-man roster a deal, which included paying for tuition for the 26 walk-ons. The players simply had to wear the brand's logo on their helmets, promote the brand through social media posts, and test out new protein bar flavors.
Do NIL deals cause more harm or benefit?
Surprisingly, the professor had mixed opinions about this topic. He pointed out various underlining factors with regard to NIL deals that people often don't realize. We talked about gender profit gaps, sports profit gaps, athlete stress levels, and recruiting. From a basic viewpoint, one would say that it is completely beneficial for athletes because they are making money now; however, this is a broad generalization. The data that isn't going to be highlighted is how much the difference will be between male and female athletes regardless of skill level. During this 50th-year anniversary of Title IX, which allowed women to play collegiate sports, many female athletes have recognized how far we have come as a nation but also how much further we have to go, and the disparity in pay between genders is one of the biggest factors with regard to how far we have to go.