Foreign athletes can get NIL (just need to donate to others)

Unless I’m mistaken, Junior Colson was adopted by US Citizens as a child and has been eligible for US citizenship himself for years at this point - I assume he’s a citizen by now. 

It makes no sense at all.

It was likely designed to help the Kentucky guy with a family of 11, IIRC, in the Congo.

Welcome to America where you can contribute and kind of participate in what we have to offer. 

Good point. May be with NIL being a thing, the laws can be amended. But, when one applied to be a student here, they signed up to uphold the laws of this country. Even if this stinks, or doesn't make sense, it's the law until amended. 

I think there should be a new visa class granted to these players that allow them to receive payments from NIL

Look....there's a lot of BS that is happening with NIL and as the wild west of just paying players gets out of control it does suck that foreign players are excluded.  But it is far more complex than you're implying.  

For now at least, NCAA athletes are still STUDENTS and not EMPLOYEES.  As such, you have to look at the immigration/visa rules for those two.  For students, the US is allowing you to enter the country, study at our schools, and earn your degree - but not "take jobs" away from US citizens.  On a work Visa you're getting approved to work here in the country.  I have several employees who require visa sponsorship in order to maintain their ability to work here in the US (and thus get paid).  

I don't really think we should change the US immigration laws just for basketball NIL.  Perhaps the more logical future is that athletes become employees of the university, get benefits, pay, structured NIL, a voice, etc.  In that scenario, you could pay people from outside the US.

Agree, but he has no choice (which is the point).

People on student visas aren't allowed to have jobs?  Never knew that.

Good point.  It's not that foreign students can't have income (surely there are Saudi princes studying here who hold interests in U.S. entities that generate income), it's that they can't earn income from U.S. sources except under certain circumstances.  But I'm curious to know what those circumstances are.  Someone elsewhere mentioned on- & off-campus employment, but is an NIL arrangement employment?  I.e. are athletes "employees" of whoever is selling their NIL? Might the work-around be to set up a foreign registered entity with whom they could contract for their NIL income? 

this is not really an NCAA thing - it's an immigration law. Foreign Student Visas are extremely limited in the scope of jobs they can have. They are limited to jobs in their field of study.

The foreign students can drive around in those cars as well, as long as they bought them with money legally obtained under the USCIS rules. 

Or they can drive around in cars someone else owns, you know, friends or uncles :) It's just that they can't legally own one bought from their own NIL money. 

This right here, I see a lot of fake charities getting set up aboard that are actually just bank accounts for these athletes, and good on them if the do it 

That's a massive stretch, at best. O-1 allows for employment based on outstanding competence in a field, including athletics.  I can't possibly imagine any immigration case officer allowing a student-athlete to be considered an employee of a college athletics team as a player vs. a full-time student who participates in amateur athletics. 

This is a provision for professional sports leagues, not for college. I'm putting that in the "urban legend/hypothetical someone thought was real" category. 

Visas are very restricted. All student visas are more so. They are also non-immigrant visas, mostly. So further restrictions. 

In general, no, you cannot be self-employed on a visa that does not allow employment.

If you have NY Times All Access or home delivery, then yes you get the athletic. I think the all access tier is $25/month.

The NYT cut its sports desk this summer and uses The Athletic instead.