The Florida Board of Governors, which manages the state’s 12 public universities, has created a task force on intercollegiate athletics to suggest new rules on how to pay student-athletes fairly.
According to Spectrum News 13, the Board of Governors identified a problem in that select student-athletes in Florida are making millions of dollars, while others see very few benefits of NIL and revenue sharing. As a result, the group talked about creating a salary cap for student-athlete compensation in Florida and recommended a seven concepts to adopt.
Along with the salary cap, the group also stated they want agents to register with the state and be regulated, similar to laws recently passed in Louisiana. They want all Florida universities to “play and pay” by the same rules to emphasize equity and fairness.
"It would equalize things in Florida, but you're still competing against schools from outside the state," said Thomas Rascoe, a sports agent with Prestige Sports Marketing and Management Group. "You'll never be able to compete with states like Louisiana or Texas because they don't have a salary cap on there."
According to The Miami Herald, the task force did not recommend increasing prices on tickets, concessions, apparel or student fees.
While the task force mulled several other options, including raising taxes on sports betting, using state funding to clear facilities debts — like Wisconsin — and expanding the growing trend of stadium rentals for large events, one central problem emerged for each solution: the courts.
“The legal sand is shifting underneath your feet, literally every month. Every month you hear about a new case coming out," task force chair Ken Jones said.
The Board of Governors could enact some of the rules identified by the task force as early as later this year, but some of the recommendations would require action from state lawmakers. Other recommendations would be best suited for multi-state cooperation.
