The new agency in charge of regulating name, image, likeness deals in college sports sent a letter to schools Thursday saying it had rejected deals between players and donor-backed collectives formed over the past several years to funnel money to athletes or their schools.

College sports entered an entirely new, and entirely unprecedented, era on July 1 when the House v. NCAA settlement finally took effect. For the first time ever, schools can directly pay players for performance via revenue sharing contracts.

Those arrangements hold no "valid business purpose," the memo said, and don't adhere to rules that call for outside NIL deals to be between players and companies that provide good