Texas Tech wants permission to pay college athletes as a part of its recruitment efforts

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Texas Tech University System leaders want Gov. Greg Abbott to let them and other Texas universities temporarily ignore a law that keeps them from directly paying college athletes they’re trying to recruit.

Without the governor’s permission, Texas Tech leaders say Texas schools might be at a big disadvantage when recruiting athletes for the school year that starts next fall.

“The universities across our great state and all of the alumni and fans deserve a level playing field to attract and retain the best student athletes to Texas,” Tech System Board Chair Mark Griffin and Regent Cody Campbell wrote in a letter to Abbott and obtained by The Texas Tribune.

Three years ago, when state lawmakers allowed college athletes in Texas to be paid for the use of their “name, image and likeness,” they added a clause that prohibited Texas universities from entering into NIL agreements directly with current and prospective student athletes.

States without that restriction will be able to make deals with athletes who decide in November and December which college to play for, the Texas Tech regents argued.

“As a result, TTU and other Texas universities are severely limited in their ability to recruit student athletes, and Texas universities are likely to lose recruits to universities in states that do not have these restrictions,” the regents said.

On Tuesday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order allowing universities in the Buckeye State to directly pay college athletes for their name, image and likeness effective immediately.

Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Tech system declined to comment further.

Texas’ NIL law, passed in 2021, bars universities to pay student athletes directly but allows the athletes to get paid by outside entities, like local car dealerships or national advertising companies, or through “NIL collectives,” which are groups of donors who pool their money to pay student athletes for special appearances or autograph signing events.

The law also allows college athletes to hire agents to represent them. It requires athletes to take a financial literacy workshop during their first and third years. Student athletes are barred from entering into contracts with particular industries, including alcohol, tobacco products, casino gambling, a firearm the student athlete can’t legally purchase or a “sexually oriented” business.

At the time, state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who authored Texas’ NIL law, said allowing athletes to enter into these contracts would keep state schools competitive in recruiting as they wait for the NCAA or the federal government to approve national rules governing the issue.

“It is time for Texas to decide if we are or are not OK with sitting on the sidelines as other states around the country show that they value and respect college athletes from the state of Texas,” Creighton said on the Senate floor in 2021.

Texas Tech leaders said in the letter that they expect state legislators will change the law in the upcoming legislative session. But until that happens, they say, they need the governor to step in.

Creighton did not respond to a request for comment about whether he supports an amendment to the legislation.

Texas Tech’s request to Abbott comes a few months after a preliminary settlement in a national class action lawsuit appears to have paved the way for universities across the country to pay student athletes directly. The lawsuit involves former student athletes who claimed the NCAA and five athletic conferences violated antitrust laws when they prevented the athletes from profiting from their name, image and likeness when they competed in college sports.

Part of the preliminary settlement would allow Division 1 universities across the country to take a little more than $20 million of their annual athletic revenue and use it toward NIL agreements with student athletes, creating what’s called a revenue-sharing agreement. The proposed settlement will also distribute $2.75 billion to college athletes who played for universities going back as far as 2016.

The final settlement isn’t expected to be approved until next spring.

Texas Tech regents said current state law prevents Texas universities from making offers to 2025 recruits that include direct NIL agreements.

“We fear that without such guidance and assurance of non-enforcement of the Texas law, Texas universities will be at a significant disadvantage in recruiting and retaining student athletes for our programs,” the regents wrote.

Regents requested that Abbott ensure the state would not enforce the prohibition on direct deals to students as long as the deals start after July 2025 and follow the other terms of the settlement when it is finalized. They said they understand the deals could hinge on whether the Legislature amends state law next year.

NIL laws have had a massive impact on college athletics since they passed in Texas and elsewhere.

The wealthy fan bases at schools like the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M have been able to spend millions to attract top athletes, while smaller schools have struggled to keep up. While the settlement’s expected revenue-sharing model will give universities another method to recruit top athletes, it also means another massive expense for athletic departments, stretching their budgets even more.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University System and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.