College sports is in the midst of its most significant changes in a generation. Current athletes, the NCAA, state legislators and members of Congress have all proposed rules that would provide athletes with varying degrees of new protections and opportunities to make money by selling their name, image and likeness (NIL) rights while playing in college.

Who will get the final say in those new rules? How expansive will the new opportunities be? Those questions will be settled in the spring and summer of 2021, and the space below will be dedicated to providing you with the most up-to-date and in-depth information on that process.

Jump to a section: Calendar | Timeline | Legislation | The start

The Latest

More states are joining the rush to open endorsements opportunities for their athletes as the calendar moves closer to the July 1 starting line for name, image and likeness changes in college sports.

In the last full week of May, two prominent strongholds for college football -- Texas and Ohio -- took significant steps toward changing their state laws. Texas legislators sent a bill to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott for approval. And Ohio state Sen. Niraj Antani proposed a bill that would allow athletes in his state to start making money from the NIL this July.

The NCAA also continues to move toward changing its rules to allow endorsements at some point this summer. The Division I Council is expected to take action on proposed rule changes during a meeting scheduled for June 22 and 23. The proposal was crafted in late 2020 by a working group appointed to study NIL, but was tabled earlier this year due to legal concerns.

Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith, who co-chaired the NCAA's working group, said he has been working closely with Sen. Antani on Ohio's new bill since January. Smith told ESPN he thinks the bill is less restrictive than the proposed rule changes that the NCAA is considering, which could give Ohio State athletes more opportunities than those in states without a law.

Smith said he remains hopeful that the NCAA will get nationwide rules into place this summer. When asked via email how confident he was that the organization could do that, a spokesman replied on his behalf with a quote that said: "We have been preparing for some form of NIL legislation to be enacted, and I am just happy that all student-athletes at Ohio universities and schools will have an opportunity to capitalize on their own name, image and likeness."

Heather Lyke, a member of the Division I Council in addition to her role as Pittsburgh's athletic director, told ESPN last week that she expected the Council to address the issue this June. But with one month before that meeting -- and two years after the NCAA formed a committee to study the rule changes -- Lyke said many of the specifics on how schools and the organization would handle myriad small details and issues presented by allowing NIL deals have yet to be fully fleshed out. Smith said during a press conference to announce Ohio's new bill that there will be "some level of chaos" before a national rule is in place.

Calendar: What comes next

May or June: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Alston v. NCAA antitrust case on March 31. While the case isn't directly related to name, image and likeness legislation, the question in front of the justices could play a role in how laws are formed later this year. The NCAA is arguing that it should be in charge of defining the line between amateurism and pro sports. The justice's decision and the language they use in sharing it could prove to be influential in future legal battles. The Supreme Court is expected to publish its decision sometime before the end of June.

June 23: The NCAA's Division I Council is expected to act, "if feasible," on proposed changes to NIL rule changes.

July 1: State laws are scheduled to begin to go into effect. Athletes who attend school in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and New Mexico would be able to start accepting endorsement deals on this date. The NCAA might file a lawsuit against the states before July 1 and ask a judge for an injunction that, if granted, could postpone the law's enactment.

Timeline: How we got here

Sept. 30, 2019: California passes legislation introduced by Sen. Nancy Skinner that will, starting in 2023, prohibit schools from punishing athletes who accept endorsement money while in college. The NCAA called the legislation an "existential threat" to college amateur sports when it was introduced months earlier.

Oct. 29, 2019: The NCAA's board of governors agrees unanimously that it is time to modernize its name, image and likeness rules. The board directs all three NCAA divisions to make rules by January 2021 that allow athletes to make endorsement money while maintaining "the collegiate model."

April 29, 2020: A working group appointed by the NCAA lays out its suggestions for how Division I should change its rules, including details about the opportunities and restrictions for future athlete deals. The Division I Council formally submitted these proposed changes in November 2020 with plans to put them to a vote in January 2021.

June 12, 2020: Florida passes its state law with a scheduled effective date of July 1, 2021, that significantly decreases the time to create a uniform national solution.

July 22, 2020: Emmert, the NCAA president, repeats a request for congressional help in creating a federal NIL law while appearing at a Senate hearing in Washington, D.C. Several senators urged Emmert and the NCAA to broaden the scope of their reform efforts if they wanted help from Capitol Hill.

Aug. 2, 2020: A group of Pac-12 football players threatens to boycott the season while sharing a list of demands that included giving players a share of athletic department revenue. A similar group of national stars formed a week later and stated its intent to form a college football players' association in the future.

Sept. 24, 2020: Reps. Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, and Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., introduce a federal bill that would allow for NIL deals with some restrictions in hopes of keeping endorsements from disrupting the recruiting process.

Dec. 10, 2020: Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., introduces federal legislation that would allow for some NIL deals and also create an antitrust exemption that would protect the NCAA from some types of future lawsuits.

Dec. 16, 2020: The Supreme Court agreed to hear the NCAA's appeal of a federal judge's ruling in the Alston v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit. While not directly related to NIL rules, the Supreme Court's decision in this case could impact how much control the NCAA has in defining amateurism in the future.

Dec. 17, 2020: Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduce legislation calling for a wide-reaching overhaul of NCAA rules and college sports governance.

Jan. 11, 2021: The NCAA's Division 1 Council decides to indefinitely delay its vote on name, image and likeness rules, citing concerns prompted by a letter from the Department of Justice related to the possible antitrust implications of changing its rules. Emmert, the NCAA president, said he was "frustrated and disappointed" by the delay.

Feb. 4, 2021: Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., introduce federal legislation that would create a completely unrestricted market for college athlete endorsement deals.

March 31, 2021: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Alston v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit.

April 1, 2021: NCAA president Mark Emmert met with three men's basketball players trying to raise awareness -- using the hashtag #NotNCAAProperty -- for what they see as unfair treatment of college athletes. The players asked the NCAA to adopt a temporary blanket waiver that would allow all athletes to make money from endorsement deals next school year while more permanent decisions take shape.

Legislation

The NCAA has asked Congress for help in creating a federal NIL law. While several federal options have been proposed, it's becoming increasingly likely that state laws will start to go into effect before a nationwide change is made. There are six states with NIL laws already in place and more than a dozen others that are actively pursuing legislation.

States with laws in place
Alabama -- Passed: April 2021. Goes into effect: July 1, 2021.
Arizona -- Passed: March 2021. Goes into effect: July 23, 2021.
Arkansas - Passed: April 2021. Goes into effect: Jan. 1, 2022.
California -- Passed: September 2019. Goes into effect: Jan. 1, 2023.
Colorado -- Passed: March 2020. Goes into effect: Jan. 1, 2023.
Florida -- Passed: June 2020. Goes into effect: July 1, 2021.
Georgia -- Passed: May 2021. Goes into effect: July 1, 2021.
Maryland -- Passed: May 2021. Goes into effect: July 1, 2023.
Michigan -- Passed: December 2020. Goes into effect: Dec. 31, 2022.
Mississippi -- Passed: April 2021. Goes into effect: July 1, 2021.
Montana -- Passed: April 2021. Goes into effect: June 1, 2023.
Nebraska -- Passed: July 2020. Goes into effect: No later than July 1, 2023 (schools can implement new policy at any time).
New Jersey -- Passed: September 2020. Goes into effect: September 2025.
New Mexico -- Passed: April 2021. Goes into effect: July 1, 2021.
South Carolina -- Passed: May 2021. Goes into effect: July 1, 2022.
Tennessee -- Passed: May 2021. Effective date: Jan. 1, 2022.

States with bills in legislative process
There are 12 other states with bills actively moving through the legislative process: Iowa (2021), Kansas (2022), Massachusetts (2022), Nevada (2022), New York (2021), North Carolina (2024), Ohio (2021), Oregon (2021), Pennsylvania (2021), Rhode Island (2022), Texas (2023), West Virginia (2021).

Where it all started