From the very beginning, the boogeyman that many thought could break up the NIL party wasn't the National Collegiate Athletics Association, it was the Internal Revenue Service.
And now the IRS has its first scalp. Sort of.
On Wednesday, Texas A&M announced it is voluntarily shuttering its revolutionary, influential, or just downright sketchy 12th Man+ program.
Debuted back in February, the 12 Man+ would have removed the middle man and the wink-wink nature of getting money from fans' pocket books into its athletes' wallets by rewarding NIL donors with access to better tickets, as well as other perks.
The only thing spending $25,000 gets you that $5,000 does not is, what, some hats and quarter-zips? pic.twitter.com/KLJ636A828
— Zach Barnett (@zach_barnett) February 15, 2023
This was an extremely aggressive stance against the NCAA's rules, which require a separation of church and state between an athletics department and its collective. Texas lawmakers attempted to stand between the NCAA enforcement office and College Station, but Texas A&M instead opted to end the program to avoid the potential wrath of the IRS.
"On June 9, the IRS released a generic legal advice memorandum providing specific guidelines for non-profit organizations that engage with student-athletes for their name, image and likeness (NIL)," the statement read. "The operation of the 12th Man+ Fund is impacted by this new guidance."
I am not a tax attorney, so I will not begin to interpret what the IRS said and why it led A&M to change course.
But the important thing to know is that A&M did end the 12th Man+ Fund, and your school and its rivals undoubtedly are paying attention.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.