Alabama coach Nick Saban watches players warm up for the College Football Playoff championship NCAA football game against Georgia on Jan. 10, 2022, in Indianapolis. Saban is concerned about the current state of college football. He recently told The Associated Press “I don’t think what we’re doing right now is a sustainable model.” (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

The commissioners of the SEC and Pac-12 will be meeting with congressional lawmakers today (May 5th) to push for federal legislation that would impose regulations on college athletes’ name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, according to media reports. The NCAA began allowing NIL deals last year, removing its ban on athletes being paid for endorsement and sponsorship deals, but no detailed, uniform rules were put in place for them. The commissioners of the two conferences want to explain what they say are problems that’s led to, with AP reporting coaches and administrators are concerned that booster-funded organizations have been luring recruits and all but transferring athletes to their schools with NIL deals that amount to recruiting inducements. Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff told AP, “I believe that all of us agree on the idea that NIL is a good thing and that student athletes should be able to earn money using their name, image and likeness,” but he continued, “I think we all agree that there should be a few very definitive limitations on that to prevent schools from buying kids or pay-for-play.”