New Jersey just made it easier for schools like Rutgers to cheat and not be punished

The chaos surrounding the NCAA and NIL is far from over. Even with the house settlement that allowed colleges to pay student-athletes, the cap went from a hard cap of $20.5 million to a soft cap. Where NIL collectives can pay above and beyond for "fair market" business value. Now, New Jersey has signed a bill into law that bars the NCAA and the CSC from punishing rule breakers of NIL.

This means that Rutgers and other schools operating in New Jersey now have an advantage in potentially cheating NCAA rules, knowing that the governor and the state of New Jersey are behind them. This may be the first state to do this, but it won't be the last.

New Jersey signed a law that bars the NCAA from punishing NIL offending schools in the state

New Jersey governor Phil Murphy signed the bill into law on July 22nd, which "establishes protections for student-athletes and certain institutions of higher education concerning name, image, or likeness compensation; repeals 'New Jersey Fair Play Act.'"

What does this mean? It essentially means that New Jersey is giving schools and players in the state free rein to do as they please regarding NIL. Rutgers specifically can continue to operate under the wild, wild west of NIL rules, when there were no rules. They don't have to prove that a student is doing a "fair market" service to a business. Nor do they have to show that services are being rendered by the student-athlete who is being paid by NIL collectives.

It could also extend beyond NIL collectives, where almost any payment to student-athletes in the state could be pursued without repercussions from the NCAA.

The problem now is that New Jersey has done it; it won't be long before other states follow suit, and we start seeing more and more of the Wild West that the House Settlement was trying to prevent return to the chaos of college athletics.