The NIL landscape has been a very difficult, and likely annoying, thing for college head coaches to navigate these last few years. And Kirby Smart has likely had a more challenging time than most other coaches considering he is at an elite program like Georgia.
But that landscape is finally going to calm down soon when the House settlement restricts the total amount of NIL an athletic department can pay out in any one year.
But until those changes are official, NIL will continue operating with zero guardrails, which is something Smart is concerned about.
"We've talked about the House settlement," Smart shared via 247sports.com. "The biggest thing going on is you've got two dates you're operating off of. There's a portal date. There's a House settlement date. And there's a lot of people doing not illegal things... There's probably going to be a bubble or a spike... They want to get all they can for their client. But at the end of the day, it may backfire because there's going to be a correction in the market at some point when this cap hits."
Kirby Smart is concerned for the players
As Smart shared above, players and agents are working hard to sign NIL deals worth as much as possible before this House settlement arrives. Once that settlement is official, then players won’t be able to capitalize on the crazy NIL market like they have been. But Smart is predicting a major correction to take place a year after the settlement when every player is starting fresh with these new NIL cap requirements.
Players will likely have to take a pay decrease when this settlement is official, which is something none of them will want to see happen. But that unfortunately is just the reality of the situation.
Thankfully it sounds like Georgia isn’t as wild with their spending like some other schools, so this adjustment may not be as difficult for them. But Smart is very concerned with how this will impact college athletes across the country, so stay tuned as this House settlement will send shockwaves throughout the college football world.