Keenum hopes to see Congress address NIL in 2023

Jun. 3—DESTIN, Fla. — Mississippi State president Mark Keenum believes Congress is the best body to take the lead with Name, Image and Likeness reform.

He also doesn't believe that help will come soon.

"The reality is we recognize this being an election year we're not realistically anticipating Congress to take any action before the end of this year," Keenum said Thursday evening as SEC presidents concluded their round of meetings.

Keenum said he's "hopeful" Congress will address NIL in 2023.

Ole Miss chancellor Glenn Boyce was unavailable for comment.

Presidents will vote on a handful of proposals as meetings conclude Friday.

There's been no clear indication that conference football scheduling will come to a vote.

Most who have offered opinions on one of the most discussed topics of the week have expressed a desire for further study.

"We're still talking through all this," Keenum said.

So it is with NIL reform.

It was easy for 14 schools to agree that something needs to be done.

This initial year of athletes entering into contracts with third-party groups has created a wave of concern for possible competitive imbalance.

MSU football coach Mike Leach told The Daily Journal this week that he strongly opposed federal oversight of NIL. Reform should come from the schools and conferences, Leach said.

One SEC administrator expressed concern earlier this spring that federal legislation could couple NIL reform with other projects and become an unwieldy process.

Keenum, though, is confident that Congress should be the vehicle for reform.

"I would prefer it come from Congress," he said. "We're communicating with our leadership in Washington, especially our Mississippi delegation including Sen. Roger Wicker who's a key player in this."

Currently NIL is governed by a patchwork of state laws that are similar but can have significant differences.

In April the Mississippi legislature amended the state's NIL law to allow recruits to enter NIL agreements and to give schools more freedom to represent and advise its athletes in potential third-party deals.

While the law's new language opens the door for recruits it still prohibits any NIL deal from being used as an inducement for a recruit to attend a certain school.

"Our state law, really the only thing we can do is make comparisons and say this is what somebody on our team has potentially done," Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. "We're not able to say if you come here you will receive this. That's illegal and not appropriate conversation."

PARRISH ALFORD is the college sports editor and columnist for the Daily Journal. Contact him at parrish.alford@journalinc.com.