While Clemson continues to spend large amounts of money on its football coaches, the Atlantic Coast Conference is trying to make sure it and the NCAA helps shape the law that will allow student athletes to receive endorsement deals for their name, image and likeness.

According to a story written by the Associated Press on Tuesday, the NCAA, ACC and Big 12 combined to spend at least $750,000 last year lobbying lawmakers in Washington to shape any reforms to the organization’s liking. The story suggests that the NCAA’s lobbying has been effective.

Last fall, the NCAA came out and reported it would allow athletes to benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness and it would craft rules to be in place for its member institutions by the 2021-’22 academic year. Since then, the NCAA has turned to Congress as more and more states get involved in the matter. California, of course, got the ball rolling last summer when it passed a law that cleared a path for athletes to receive endorsements beginning in 2023.

According to the AP, the NCAA spent $450,000 last year on lobbying, the most it has spent on lobbyist since 2014. The ACC and Big 12 joined in, combing to spend another $300,000.

This is the first time the ACC has spent money on lobbyist. According to the AP, the ACC spent at least $210,000 to the law firm DLA Piper and another lobbyist, Tom Korologos, to influence Congress on “legislative and regulatory proposals affecting intercollegiate athletes,” disclosure forms show.

Last Thursday, Clemson’s 10 on-field coaches were approved by Clemson’s Board of Trustees to earn $8.145 million in 2020. That does not include the $9.3 million head coach Dabo Swinney will earn, based on the raise he received last April from the BOT.

Athletic Director Dan Radakovich said after Thursday’s compensation committee meeting the Clemson football staff will likely rank in the top 3 again in salaries for the 2020 season.

“A clear picture of that usually occurs in June when everybody is kind of settled in,” Radakovich said. “But we feel very confident that we are in the top three or four of salary pools. We have been, and I don’t imagine this year’s increases will significantly change that number.”

Radakovich is in Greensboro, North Carolina this week, along with other ACC athletic directors, for the conference’s annual winter meetings. One of the topics being discussed is how the league will handle endorsements when it comes to their student athletes name, image and likeness.

“It will be one of the biggest things that we talk about,” Radakovich said.

“As you read things that come through the press over the last few months, it is out there. We are going to have to adapt,” he continued. “The great thing about it is we are not adapting alone. There will be a lot of other programs that are adapting. I will tell you where we are, as a football program and as an athletic department, Clemson is in a really good spot to make sure we continue to give great opportunities to our student athletes, but also have that adaptability within our program to whatever the rules end up being.”

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