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The financial landscape for some collegiate athletes is likely to get more lucrative soon, but that reality may prove disruptive to the world of college athletic programs.

Across the country, state legislatures are considering so-called name, image and likeness bills that will give college players the authority to make money off the fame that comes with their collegiate athletic careers. Legislation at the federal level would be better, at least in terms of uniformity, but so far that hasn't happened.

NIL legislation, as it's become known, will permit NCAA athletes to earn money from endorsements and sponsorship deals. Those kinds of transactions have historically been barred by outdated notions that student-athletes need or want to be protected from the potentially corrupting influences of money and big business. But college sports is big money and big business, earned primarily from football and basketball programs that couldn't exist without players. Players and others have for years pushed the idea that the players deserved to benefit financially from the programs that rely on and profit from their athletic contributions.

Several states have already enacted their own NIL bills. Last week, Arkansas lawmakers on the House Education Committee discussed House Speaker Matthew Shepherd's legislation to regulate athlete branding at the state's colleges and universities.

Money talks, and it will have an influence on recruiting. That's the basic idea behind Shepherd's bill. If Arkansas, where the Legislature is now in session, doesn't adopt NIL legislation, its schools will be at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to recruiting athletes, Shepherd says.

Even among people who may still think this all is a bad idea, many recognize the changes are coming anyway and Arkansas institutions need to be ready.

Naturally, there are concerns about corruption when one starts waving money around. But it's not as though NCAA schools have been immune from corruption while excluding athletes from compensation for their names, images and likenesses. The NCAA and member schools will undoubtedly have to be on guard and be sure that whatever rules are established are followed.

The University of Arkansas has even created a new senior athletics director position "for athlete brand development and inclusive excellence" whose job will be to help athletes navigate the new world order of building their individual brands and marketing themselves.

For fans, the changes may mean seeing top players promoting a car dealership or endorsing a tattoo parlor. For coaches and athletic departments, these changes may dramatically change the landscape of recruiting and keeping players. Will players be drawn to schools based on the size of their markets -- i.e., it's bound to be more lucrative to get an endorsement deal in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York or Dallas than one in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It may become harder for schools in smaller markets to compete.

Allowing players to be compensated for the use of their names, images and likenesses is really the smartphone of college athletics. In other words, everyone knows it's a big deal, but it's unlikely anyone knows the sweeping impact the change could have on programs, athletic conferences and competition.

Scandal? Yeah, probably somewhere along the way. But that's not enough of a reason to put one's head in the sand and ignore the realities brought on by social media and big money surrounding college athletics.

"I'm not sure we'll ever figure out how to legislate basic human integrity in college athletics," said Hunter Yurachek, director of athletics at UA.

He's right about that. We've never been able to legislate it even among legislators.

And then there are potential changes that don't amount to scandal, but change the way college sports is played. Will a receiver lobby a quarterback to throw more passes his way because he knows getting on TV making a touchdown pays dividends in his branding? Will a basketball player go for a eye-popping dunk that might land him on SportsCenter as opposed to a common but more reliable layup?

Change is indeed coming. Hopefully, it will somehow turn out to make the contests fans want to see better. But there's no guarantee.