Are NCAA Letters of Intent Contracts?

Letters of Intent in the NCAA are referred to as the National Letter of Intent (NLI).  The NLI is a binding agreement between an NCAA institution and student-athlete in which the student-athlete agrees to attend the institution and the institution agrees to provide financial aid to the student athlete.  NLI's are contracts because there is an exchange and both parties benefit.  The insitution gets the athlete and their skills to help the institutions sports teams while the student-athlete gets financial aid to help with their studies.

The NLI also benefits the institution because it puts an end to the recuiting process because other insititutions are prohibited from contacting the athlete.  The insitution that they committed to is then guarenteed the rights to that athlete.  In addition, the athlete is guarnteed a year of financial aid from that insititution so there is an exchange from both sides.

There are consequences if an athlete commits to an institution through the NLI and chooses to attend somewhere else.  The student-athlete loses one year of eligibility and must sit out one academic year at the new institution.  However, not every school is in the NLI program so a student-athlete can cheat the system by choosing a school that is not in the NLI program.

In addition, if the student-athlete signs the agreement but doesn't want to fulfill it, then they can appeal the NLI to a NCAA review committee.

In conclusion, NCAA Letters of Intent are contracts because it is an agreement between both parties and there is an intent for both sides to benefit.