Congress wants a paper trail for your athlete deals
Plus TikTok's push to close the sale inside the feed and YouTube's new rule for Shorts.
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[Later Logo](https://later.com/social-media-management-tools/) [The Senate rewrites the rules for NIL deals](https://www.commerce.senate.gov/press/rep/release/senate-overwhelmingly-passes-protect-college-sports-act/) Quick Hits - On September 28, the Senate [](https://www.commerce.senate.gov/press/rep/release/senate-overwhelmingly-passes-protect-college-sports-act/)[passed the Protect College Sports Act](https://www.commerce.senate.gov/press/rep/release/senate-overwhelmingly-passes-protect-college-sports-act/) by a vote of 77 to 22. The bill sets a five-year eligibility window, allows one penalty-free transfer, caps agent fees at 5%, and would override the NIL policies now active in[](https://www.multistate.us/insider/2026/9/29/the-new-economics-of-college-athletics-an-update-on-name-image-and-likeness-laws)[35 states](https://www.multistate.us/insider/2026/9/29/the-new-economics-of-college-athletics-an-update-on-name-image-and-likeness-laws). - [Under the bill](https://www.bhfs.com/insight/senate-passage-of-the-protect-college-sports-act/), athletes would report any NIL deal worth more than $600 in a year, and deals with a school's boosters and business partners would need a "valid business purpose" at market rates. - The College Sports Commission already reviews third-party athlete deals under similar standards. From June 2025 through August, it[](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/college-sports-commission-releases-updated-183331013.html) [cleared 46,478 deals worth $582 million](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/college-sports-commission-releases-updated-183331013.html), and another 2,296 deals worth $157 million were not cleared. First, the caveat. The bill still needs the House, which isn't expected to vote until after the November elections, and it dies if it hasn't passed by January 3. Plenty of brands will take that as permission to wait. We wouldn't, because the review system is already running and both versions of the future ask athlete deals for the same three things: a report, a real job, and a “fair” price.Those rules were written to catch payroll dressed up as an endorsement, where a booster-funded "partnership" asks for one post and pays like a salary.Here, we’ll give you an example:Picture a group of donors tied to a school paying a quarterback every month for "appearances" nobody ever schedules, when the money is really there to keep that player on the team.Now picture a sports drink signing the same quarterback for three posts and a store visit, at the rate it would pay any creator with the same following.A brand with a product, a brief, and a rate it can defend is the case the system was built to wave through.That's why we're calling the "valid business purpose" test our stand-out detail. It asks whether the athlete did real marketing work for a real product at a price the market supports, which also happens to describe every well-run creator campaign.What’s worth planning around is movement. Under the bill, a second transfer to a new school would cost an athlete a season, and college team rosters are still reshuffling in the meantime. Build deals around the athlete's own audience instead of the jersey, keep terms to a season, and write in what happens if they change schools. - Why it matters: The commission cleared $227 million in deals in July and August alone, more than double the two months before,[](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/college-sports-commission-releases-updated-183331013.html) [per its latest report](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/college-sports-commission-releases-updated-183331013.html). If your company also sponsors a school's athletic department, your athlete deals may get the stricter review, so bring legal in before the brief goes out. - How we see it: Student-athletes are creators with a practice schedule and a compliance office. Brands that sat out NIL because nobody could explain the rules are getting a rulebook, from Congress or from the commission. The crackdown is aimed at fake marketing, and real marketing has the easiest path through. The last word: If unclear rules kept your brand out of NIL, that reason is about to expire. Run your athlete deals like creator campaigns and the rules mostly take care of themselves, whichever version wins. What's Trending [TikTok wants the whole sale to happen inside the feed.](https://www.marketingdive.com/news/tiktok-broadens-agentic-ai-play-brings-global-ad-network-to-us/832007/) At Advertising Week, TikTok opened its ad network to US advertisers for the first time and introduced Buy Direct, which lets shoppers buy what they see without leaving the app. Its GMV Max tool will also put more spend behind the Shop content that's already selling. Your creator brief is turning into a sales brief. [YouTube is cutting reach for Shorts channels built on other people's clips.](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/youtube-original-shorts-reposted-clips-reach/591774/) YouTube says its Shorts recommendations will favor original videos and pull back on channels that mostly re-upload or lightly edit someone else's. A voiceover describing what's on screen doesn't count as original, per creator liaison Rene Ritchie. If a compilation or meme account is on your media plan, ask what it adds before you renew. [Erling Haaland's YouTube channel came with a full production team.](https://www.tubefilter.com/2026/10/02/wmes-new-creator-labs-launched-haalands-youtube-channel-its-planning-to-repeat-that-success/) The Manchester City striker launched his channel ahead of the World Cup with his talent agency handling ideas, production, posting, and sponsorships, and it now has more than 4 million subscribers. The agency has built a division to repeat the model. More talent will show up as finished media properties with the sponsor slot already built. The Receipts - 31+ billion. Hours of livestreams watched worldwide in Q2 2026, the biggest quarter on record and a World Cup-assisted one, with YouTube taking roughly half,[](https://streamscharts.com/news/q2-2026-global-livestreaming-landscape) [per Streams Charts](https://streamscharts.com/news/q2-2026-global-livestreaming-landscape). If your plan is all feed posts and Reels, a live product drop or Q&A has earned a line in the budget. - 54 million. US consumers who bought a product after watching a TikTok video, according to an economic impact report TikTok commissioned from PF Global,[](https://www.marketingdive.com/news/tiktok-broadens-agentic-ai-play-brings-global-ad-network-to-us/832007/) [cited by Marketing Dive](https://www.marketingdive.com/news/tiktok-broadens-agentic-ai-play-brings-global-ad-network-to-us/832007/). - 13x. Growth in YouTube Shopping sales volume over the past two years, driven by more than 1 million creators in its affiliate program, [](https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/made-on-youtube-creator-monetization-shopping/)[according to YouTube](https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/made-on-youtube-creator-monetization-shopping/). The program expands to 35 countries by the end of the year. - 72%. The share of US video posters ages 14 to 44 who used AI to help create or edit in the past year,[](https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/made-on-youtube-new-tools-power-creation-journey/) [according to YouTube](https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/made-on-youtube-new-tools-power-creation-journey/). That's worth a line in your next creator brief about what's allowed. Inside Later - We brought Made You Look to New York! Yesterday, we [co-hosted a 25-seat morning](https://later.com/events/made-you-look-tour/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-influence&utm_content=newsletter_oct7) with TikTok at Ludlow House, where our CEO Scott Sutton sat down with TikTok's Isobel Sita-Lumsden and creator Anna Sitar. The session skipped the slides and stuck to two questions: how to brief a creator when one post has to build the brand and drive the sale, and how to measure a post that's doing both jobs. - Later Creator Live comes to New York on November 17. Top creators, brands, and platform partners in one room, plus a first look at what's next from Later.[](https://later.com/events/later-creator-live-2026/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-influence&utm_content=newsletter_oct7) [Apply to attend.](https://later.com/events/later-creator-live-2026/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-influence&utm_content=newsletter_oct7) - Our Creator AEO playbook is still free. We surveyed nearly 500 marketers about what shapes the way AI talks about their brands, then built the guide on who should own it, which creators earn citations, and how to brief your next campaign for it. [Access it for free here.](https://later.com/resources/creator-aeo-strategy-guide/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-influence&utm_content=newsletter_oct7) – From the Editorial Team at Later [Custom](https://instagram.com/latermedia) [Custom](https://www.tiktok.com/@later.com) [Custom](https://www.linkedin.com/company/latergram-me/) [Custom](https://www.youtube.com/latermedia) [Custom](https://www.threads.net/@latermedia) [Custom](https://www.facebook.com/latermedia) [Custom](https://www.pinterest.com/latermedia) © 2026 Mavrck LLC dba Later. All rights reserved. Later, Mavrck and associated designs are registered trademark, You are receiving this email from the Later Group Company that you have business relationship with Victory Square Media Inc. or Mavrck LLC. 810 – 60 State Street, Boston, MA 02109, US No longer want to receive these emails? 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