With revenue-sharing officially unfolding following the onset of the House Settlement July 1, coaches now see some semblance of framework for the financial rules of college football.
Shane Beamer just wants to know those parameters are going to be adequately enforced.
South Carolina's fifth-year head coach, coming off his most successful season and carrying a six-game regular-season win streak into the fall, thinks this new era of college football still needs "teeth" for the enforcement of rules, likening it to yesteryear for the NCAA.
"All I meant to [a previous] question was if there is rules in place that we all agree on," Beamer said Monday in Atlanta at SEC Media Days, "and someone doesn't do what they're supposed to be doing, 20 years ago with NCAA rules or now with rev-share and the Clearinghouse and all that, there needs to be teeth to the enforcement. Otherwise, nothing will change and we'll be right back to where we were."
Beamer believes operating within the general framework of the House Settlement's revenue-sharing agreement -- meaning schools such as South Carolina, which is opting in at the maximum allowable amount of revenue-sharing -- $20.5 million for 2025-26 -- needs to be given time to show it can -- or cannot -- work.
Per terms of the House Settlement and agreements between both sides of the litigation, Name, Image and Likeness deals moving forward that carry a value of $600 or more must be approved by a third-party arbiter -- in this case, powerhouse financial firm Deloitte.
"That what we say is going to be enforced is going to happen and be enforced," said Beamer. "Because all the talk out there about what's new stuff and this and that, if there is no teeth to it, doesn't matter. It's just going to continue to be.
"What has been implemented with rev-share and the Clearinghouse and all that, I see other conferences talking about the negatives about it already. Let's give this thing time to work and develop. Let's see what it is and not all of a sudden say, 'It's not going to work.' I was in (Washington) D.C. earlier this year talking about the need for national legislation, so been talking a lot about this. But something uniform that has some teeth to it where it is what it's supposed to be, and if somebody is not doing what they're supposed to be doing, it's going to be enforced and there will be repercussions."
Though not referencing his own star quarterback, Beamer enters the upcoming season with LaNorris Sellers as one of college football's potential breakout-stars -- and still helming the Gamecocks offense despite claims from Sellers's own father this summer that he's still at South Carolina despite being offered an $8 million "NIL deal."
South Carolina opens its 2025 season Sunday, Aug. 31, against Virginia Tech inside Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium -- a contest that marks the first of 10 Gamecocks contests this season against Power Four competition.