Over the last few years, college football commissioners and presidents have been yearning for federal legislation to help clean up the game. The recent House settlement was just the first part of that. The Ohio State football team has started to figure out the new NIL rules involved with that.
That won't be the case for very long if a new bill that is currently up for a vote ends up passing. This new bill has the opportunity to change the face of college sports, not just college football. It's a massive bill with a ton of provisions that could affect the Buckeyes.
New proposed bill could have a major effect on college football's future
Among the features of the new bill are a cap on NIL earnings, not being able to pull a scholarship for injury or performance, and post-collegiate healthcare. A couple of proposed provisions in the bill are of particular note to Buckeye fans, thanks to recent proceedings.
One of the features is that a school would have the choice to void an NIL deal if it conflicts with a deal that the school already has in effect. An example would be an athlete taking an NIL deal from Adidas while playing at a Nike school, which is exactly what Jeremiah Smith did recently.
There are too many provisions for me to list in this article, and quite frankly, I'm not a lawyer. A lot of the exact provisions are a little tough to explain. Yahoo Sports has part of the bill, and you can find more about it here. There is still quite a lot of time before this bill would come into effect.
There is also a lot of uncertainty about whether the bill will even pass the House and the Senate. Democrats don't seem to like the bill as much as Republicans do, although there are provisions from both parties in the bill. It could end up stalling out.
Still, this is something Ross Bjork and the Buckeyes need to keep an eye on. They could have to learn an entirely new set of rules if this bill becomes law.