We reviewed college athlete contracts — here’s how performance adjustments, buyouts and bowl incentives work

If the agreed-upon settlement of the House v. NCAA court case is approved in April by California-based Judge Claudia Wilken, it will usher in an era in which schools in the Power Five conferences can directly pay athletes for their name, image, and likeness. It is a progression of the messy post-2021 world of athlete compensation. But how exactly are contracts structured? Nothing in college sports is uniform, and even player compensation structures will vary from school to school.

How athlete contracts are structured

CBS Sports reviewed four athlete compensation agreements to shed light on how schools are preparing for the coming revenue-sharing reality. Two agreements involve football players at separate Big Ten schools, one at an SEC school, and another at a Big 12 school. These agreements illustrate the differing ways schools are structuring contracts in the new athlete compensation landscape.

Big 12 school: A two-part agreement

The Big 12 school’s agreement is the most straightforward. The player signed two agreements regarding his NIL rights:

• One is with the school’s collective through the NIL platform Opendorse, covering compensation through June.

• The second kicks in afterward — an agreement between the athlete and the school itself, co-signed by the school’s athletic director. The latter is what the House settlement allows schools to provide.

Both agreements serve as term sheets in lieu of long-form contracts, which will come later. The term sheet signed with the school lays out a payment schedule beginning July 1 and is contingent on the final approval of the House case.

Postseason incentives & participation

The Big 12 athlete will receive equal monthly payments from July through November, but the deal is backloaded. In December, he will earn a standard month’s pay plus a 150% increase — essentially a bowl bonus. This structure helps address postseason participation concerns in college football.

The future of the bowl system beyond the 12 teams in the College Football Playoff will be a hot topic as bowl contracts come up for renewal. Bowls are expected to push for ways to safeguard their games as players opt out and transfer in December. This type of contract structuring is one way schools can help.

A Big Ten school’s agreement reviewed by CBS Sports has a similar agreement structure to the Big 12 school:

• The collective portion lasts through June.

• The school agreement takes over in July (typically the start of an athletic department’s fiscal year).

• December payments are equal, but not paid out until Dec. 31, 2025, or 10 days after the team’s last game — whichever is later –to ensure participation in a January bowl game or the College Football Playoff.

Clauses & compliance

Both the aforementioned Big Ten and Big 12 agreements include clauses on:

• Enrollment requirements.

• Termination if the athlete leaves the school, the team, or enters the transfer portal.

• Restrictions on promoting political organizations, sports gambling, alcohol, tobacco products, adult entertainment, or substances banned by the NCAA.

• A clause in the Big 12 school’s contract stating that if an athlete fails to disclose known physical or mental health conditions that could impair his ability to compete, the school can reduce payments by 50%.

Buyout provisions & market adjustments

Compensation amounts are laid out in agreements but are not fixed. The Big Ten school’s contract states that the school can adjust a player’s payout based on marketability. For example:

Buyout provisions exist as well. An NIL agent told CBS Sports that if a player transfers, they would seek to have the new school cover the remainder of what is owed to the original school.

Different approaches at other schools

The third and fourth agreements take a different approach:

• The SEC school’s agreement only covers the collective portion. The player has signed a deal with the school’s collective via an NIL platform. An NIL agent with a player on that SEC team’s roster expects the school to send eve

• The second Big Ten school is expected to route most of the payments through the collective while using the $21.5 million in revenue-sharing funds to reward top performers.

Standardized contract language may not yet exist in college athletics, but pending approval, school-centric compensation soon will.