The Battle's End forms The Collective Association with six other NIL groups

Even over two years into the name, image and likeness era in college athletics, there are still some uncertain questions about NIL's long-term future.

Perhaps in part because of this, Florida State NIL collective The Battle's End, which launched last December, has partnered with six other NIL collectives from prominent programs across the country to form The Collective Association, it was announced Wednesday morning.

Here's the full press release on The Collective Association, shared with the Osceola by The Battle's End:

"Seven founding member NIL collectives announced today the launch of The Collective Association (TCA). The new trade association will advocate for student-athletes, share best practices, and act as a unified voice to shape the development of the NIL market and beyond. Collectives have become the strongest proponents for the rights of student-athletes, and now TCA comes together as partners to help protect and fight for those rights. Other areas of focus will be lending assistance to implement an agent registry and lobbying for uniformity across state laws. TCA will also work towards a sustainable model and look for points of commonality between all of the major stakeholders due to the roles collectives play.

The seven founding members are as follows:

• Classic City Collective (University of Georgia)

• Spyre Sports Group (University of Tennessee)

• The Grove Collective (University of Mississippi)

• The Battle’s End (Florida State University)

• House of Victory (University of Southern California)

• Champions Circle (University of Michigan)

• Happy Valley United (Penn State University)

TCA will openly share the many good works of how its collectives and athletes are helping to create positive impact in the communities they serve across the country. Since TCA is uniquely positioned on the ground floor of NIL commerce, it can monitor real-time marketplace and compliance developments, which can provide universities and legislators with critical data points and current trends. TCA will continue to evaluate adding additional collectives that share their overall vision and goals. For those collectives interested please email info@thecollectiveassociation.com to learn more. An immediate priority will be assisting in the development of a revenue-sharing model for college athletes that does not require athletes to become university employees. TCA looks forward to releasing more specific details of this model to be considered by all interested stakeholders in the coming weeks."

The NCAA has outright refused to adopt a long-term NIL policy for its entire governing body, instead pushing Congress to create the ruleset while most colleges defer to their state laws.

Those state laws are generally similar, but there are some key differences between certain states, including the level to which the schools themselves can be involved in the NIL space.

Some schools, like Texas A&M, have taken that to the extreme, lumping their NIL efforts into the booster space and incentivizing tax-deductible donations which give them better perks as boosters.

The NCAA sent a memo to all of its member organizations June 27, informing them that they must defer to the NCAA policy instead of their respective state laws, seemingly a direct shot at Texas A&M.

And yet, with so little clarity from the NCAA, TCA is bonding together to be united on the NIL front with a focus on what is best for the athletes.

Follow The Osceola on Facebook

Follow The Osceola on Twitter

Subscribe to the Osceola's YouTube channel

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Apple

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Spotify