An arbitrator has ruled in favor of NIL deals from two University of Georgia student-athletes after the CSC initially rejected the pair of deals.
According to USA Today, the CSC had ruled in March that the deals fell outside the allowable guidelines for the range of compensation. While the third-party arbitrator was investigating the situation, the CSC moved to dismiss the proceedings based on updates within its own guidelines that now allowed the kind of compensation that the Georgia student-athletes were seeking.
In April, the CSC updated its guidelines regarding the minimum dollar amount required for review, among other items. Now, NIL deals valued under $2,500 do not need to be reviewed by the governing body so long as the student-athlete does not make more than $15,000 total.
Despite moving to dismiss, the arbitrator did continue to review the case, and on June 5 he agreed that the NIL deals should be approved as submitted.
Related: Arbitor Sides with College Sports Commission in NIL Case Brought by 18 Nebraska Athletes
“As more deals are submitted and cleared," CSC CEO Bryan Seeley said via statement, "we regularly update our dataset to ensure that student-athletes receive the NIL compensation they deserve. We are committed to applying the rules fairly and to continuously refining the tools we use to do so. When additional data showed these deals were within range, we acted immediately to clear them.”
The CSC also noted that it will not retroactively review other deals that were denied prior to the adjusted rules, claiming it only proceeded with the Georgia deals because the investigation was already underway when the rules changed.
The Georgia arbitration decision is the second known time that the CSC has involved an arbitrator in an NIL deal ruling. In the first case, the arbitrator ruled in favor of the CSC over 18 Nebraska football players.
