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A magistrate judge in the Northern District of California has denied a challenge that multimedia rights partners and sponsors should not be subject to the College Sports Commission (CSC) as associated entities, per court documents. The ruling Thursday marks a win for the NCAA, giving the NIL Clearinghouse and CSC teeth to enforce their rules.
It likely will not slow spending on “over the cap” money, though. Since the House v. NCAA settlement was put in place a year ago, schools have used multimedia rights partners, corporate and apparel partners to circumvent the revenue-sharing cap. Deemed as “associated entities” because of their close relationships with institutions, deals had to be put through the CSC.
That will continue with Thursday’s ruling; however, spending is not expected to change drastically. If a different ruling were issued, MMR partners would be exempt from the CSC. The decision is expected to be appealed to Judge Claudia Wilken.
“The Court will not categorically declare MMRs as not Associated Entities,” Thursday’s ruling states. “First, it is possible that some MMRs do fall within the term. At the June 10, 2026, hearing, Defendants noted that MMRs have, for example, created institution-specific entities housed on college campuses that generate NIL deals for specific students at a particular campus, placed their employees directly in a campus’s athletic department office to assist in locating deals for hopeful recruits, and provided money upfront to athletes and found a supporting deal thereafter.”
Multiple college football rosters are expected to exceed $40 million for the 2026 season. More than half of those rosters were funded by above-the-cap deals. It’s created a loophole for the top brands in the sport to thrive.
The CSC recently announced it will not subject deals valued between $600 to $15,000 to review unless and until an athlete has exceeded $50,000 in associated deals in an academic year.
“The Court declines to declare that third-party brand sponsors are not Associated Entities merely because a school assisted in arranging an NIL agreement with a Class Member,” the ruling states. “The factual record supports this finding.”
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