The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a memo on Thursday for guidance regarding student athletes name, image and likeness (NIL).

The memo states that colleges need to ensure their male and female student athletes receive proportionate NIL opportunities and resources.  The memo considers NIL as athletic financial assistance. This would not impact NIL provided by third parties.

In a nine-page memo, the Department of Education OCR clarified, under Title IX, NIL money paid to student athletes should be held to the same gender-equity standards as athletic scholarships. Specifically, it says the amounts paid to student athletes through NIL deals should be considered part of a school’s athletic financial assistance.

This news comes two weeks before settlement objections are due in House v. NCAA case. Last summer, the two parties reached an agreement by allocating billions in future revenue sharing for student athletes, which most schools plan to use for its revenue drivers — football and men’s basketball.

The OCR memo could play a roll in how the rev share money will be allocated. In other words, schools planning to give these dollars to mostly football and men’s basketball could be forced to distribute the money based on Title IX equity laws.

Once the rev share goes in effect on July 1, schools in Power 4 Conferences are expected to share up to $22 million in revenue with their student athletes each year.

As The Clemson Insider reported previously, Clemson planned to give a high percentage of its revenue dollars to its football program, which is expected to be as high as anyone in the country.

This is not good news for Clemson Football if the memo is upheld by the new administration, which will go into office on Monday, due to NIL competitiveness with some of the elite programs in college football.

It will be interesting to see how the Trump Administration handles the memo. The new administration has promised significant changes to the  Department of Education.

Linda McMahon is Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Education.