to keep the Yankees from buying all the talent and killing the sport. Other pro sports got similar exemptions along the way. That kind of arrangement could be permitted in NCAA sports when it comes to schools paying the players under collective bargaining. But "NIL" is different. It got its name because "name, image, likeness" was the subject of the court cases that outlawed players identity being used in video games without compensating the players. In the big picture it means that college athletes cannot legally be restricted from earning in any legal way. Just as pro athletes can earn money for public appearances, advertising or whatever, restricting college athletes from earning money loke that was always illegal; it just took lawsuits to prove it. Now we regard it as a "new law" called NIL, but schools were simply told by the courts to backoff.