New era of NIL and the clearinghouse will favor USC in college sports

There are only a handful of true national brands. In today's new era of college sports, USC being among the select few will be a distinct advantage. This is particularly true when looking at the need for any and all NIL deals to go through the clearinghouse.

Anything that comes from an outside source that ends up being a deal has to now have real-world value. There are some questions as to what exactly this will look like in practice, but the principle holds.

In the past, schools would have had the chance to find anyone willing to throw money toward a team, and there did not have to be a legitimate valuation that played a part in that decision. If someone or a corporation had the money, the limit was their own checkbook.

In theory and increasingly, that possibility will become more and more difficult to come by for NILs or alumni with deep pockets. Instead, there has to be some form of market value attached to what is now being presented to student-athletes.

Chance for USC to take advantage

This is where USC being a top brand and being in Los Angeles, come into play. Having L.A. and the national recognition of being one of the top all-time programs make it so that more legitimate chances for the Trojans to explore for their student-athletes will come up. It would prove somewhat difficult for USC to not be consistently among the top getters in this regard.

For some, the down years of the Trojans have made it so that it will be difficult to envision USC being at the top of the world of college football again. It should be looked at from the opposite approach, however. Despite the lack of seasons that would have met expectations, the extent to which the program can take advantage of being USC will make it that much easier to be a mainstay at the top again. All that's needed is even just a little momentum.