College sports watchdog sets up tip line for confidential reporting of violations in new NIL era

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The College Sports Commission launched a tip line Wednesday that allows for anonymous reporting of potential violations of rules in the new name, image and likeness era that outline how players are paid, place limits on roster sizes and set a $20.5 million cap on revenue sharing between schools and their athletes.

The commission's CEO, Bryan Seeley, told The Associated Press the reporting line adds an important method of gathering information about the thousands of deals and hundreds of schools it is overseeing under terms of the $2.8 billion House settlement that reshaped college sports by allowing players to earn money. He said it is something “we've always been planning,” and not a reaction to some of the struggles the startup agency has endured since opening July 1.

“One of the foundational aspects of any compliance program is reporting methods,” Seeley said. “And it's important to have reporting methods that people feel comfortable using, which often involves providing anonymous reporting.”

The commission has contracted with RealResponse, a technology company that works with various colleges, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, NFL Players Association, Major League Baseball and other sports groups. It provides different ways for people to file reports — via text, WhatsApp, web forms and more — and gives the CSC the chance to loop back with whistleblowers while shielding their identity.

“Since NIL has become a reality, it has heightened the opportunity for bad behavior and cheating to occur in college athletics,” said David Chadwick, the founder and CEO of RealResponse. “Everyone agrees the rules need to be followed, there needs to be accountability and enforcement. The reality is that for that to happen, there have to be reporting mechanisms in place and there has to be good technology that allows people who want to report anonymously to do so.”

Chadwick said the ability to report anonymously is especially important for colleges, where coaches for decades were reluctant to publicly out rivals for cheating lest the rivals retaliate by turning the microscope on them.

Created out of the lawsuit settlement, the CSC analyzes information about third-party NIL deals worth $600 or more that are submitted through an app called NIL Go, which was developed by Deloitte. Last month, it said it had approved nearly 6,100 deals worth about $35.4 million.

The CSC is also responsible for ensuring schools adhere to roster sizes set by the settlement and that they don't surpass the $20.5 million in revenue they're allowed to share with athletes.

Some school administrators and people running collectives have complained about delays in processing some of the deals.

“Review remains slow,” Kansas State cap management and revenue sharing executive Julie Owen recently told the AP, in feedback similar to that from others around the country. "The functionality of the NIL Go website is less than ideal. It makes administrators’ jobs more difficult, and providing additional information is far too complicated for student-athletes. These two should be distinguished, as CSC is not responsible for the operational side of NIL Go, which was created and operated by Deloitte.”

Seeley said NIL Go receives a high volume of admissions “and the vast majority are getting cleared, and they're getting cleared expeditiously.”

“There are some deals that are submitted to NIL Go, certainly a minority of deals, that are problematic,” Seeley said. “They either have errors in data entry, or indicators of (forbidden) pay for play. There is heightened review of those deals and heightened review takes time. That is not a bug in the system. That's a feature of the system.”

There have also been reports about schools becoming frustrated with the slowness of the system and bypassing it altogether. Seeley said he had not been presented with specific examples of that. The new tip line is in place to collect information about those cases, if they exist, along with others that escape notice of the CSC.

“As we build out the compliance program, I think this is a really good development,” Seeley said.

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AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta contributed to this report.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports