The NCAA Division I board of directors approved groundbreaking name, image and likeness rights for student-athletes Wednesday, ushering in a new era in college athletics that provides players with the ability to make money through endorsement deals.
The rules go into effect Thursday, and some athletes are already lining up endorsement deals or trademarked logos in anticipation of the changes.
Wednesday’s approval by the governing bodies in Divisions I, II and III was expected after the NCAA’s Division I Council recommended Monday to break from the organization’s long-standing policy on amateurism — but the new guidelines don’t cross over into pay-for-play territory and leave much of the implementation to individual schools and conferences.
There was a rush for the NCAA to implement some baseline guidance regarding athletes profiting off their name, image and likeness (NIL). Several states have laws going into effect Thursday, and the NCAA’s Division I Council sought to create a stopgap ruling until federal legislation or new NCAA rules could be implemented.
“This is a seismic shift in the landscape, just simply because this was something that was not made available to student-athletes before,” said Damon Evans, the athletic director at the University of Maryland. “This is a change, but we’re moving in the direction that we should be moving in.”
Under the guidelines, college athletes “can use a professional services provider for NIL activities,” the NCAA said. Those athletes must report their NIL activities to the school, and colleges are responsible for determining whether the NIL activity is consistent with state laws.
“This is an important day for college athletes since they all are now able to take advantage of name, image and likeness opportunities,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement. “With the variety of state laws adopted across the country, we will continue to work with Congress to develop a solution that will provide clarity on a national level. The current environment — both legal and legislative — prevents us from providing a more permanent solution and the level of detail student-athletes deserve.”
The interim policy from the NCAA doesn’t allow NIL compensation contingent on enrollment at a particular school, nor does it allow for compensation for athletic participation and achievement, or when an agreed-upon deal isn’t carried out.
Athletes can earn money in a variety of ways, including endorsement deals, private lessons and autograph and merchandise sales. The use of social media could be a major asset for some athletes. Paige Bueckers, the UConn women’s basketball star, has 829,000 followers on Instagram. At Maryland, quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa has 124,000 followers on the social media platform.
There are limitations to NIL arrangements, however, that each university can implement.
“There may be certain things that are against our institutional values, and the values that you have to uphold as being a member of our team,” Mr. Evans said. “So there are some things that are not permissible from that perspective, so we’ll lay those out in our guidelines.”
To Martin Conway, a sports industry management professor at Georgetown, some of the tension will lie in group licensing versus individual licensing.
Schools already have apparel partners, such as Under Armour at Maryland. It remains to be seen whether universities restrict their athletes in some way to the companies the institutions already have deals with.
“Part of the regulatory frameworks that are developed, either at the conference level or at the university level, that says, ‘OK, here’s our framework. You can go out and do whatever you want within this framework,’” Mr. Conway said. “And the framework may say, ‘Here’s our sponsors, and you can’t compete with those.’”
Twenty-four states have passed NIL laws, and 14 of those states will have legislation effective as of July 1, according to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger. To avoid an unfair advantage for athletes in states that haven’t passed NIL laws, the NCAA’s temporary measures allow athletes in all 50 states to profit off endorsement deals, among other approved avenues.
For states without laws in place, the individual institutions or conferences will be charged with creating their own guidelines.
“Everybody doing their own thing, or certain states having laws in effect, that could create an unlevel playing field, because what some people will do and others will do could be very different,” Mr. Evans said. “I hope so, at some point in time, we’re able to get something that creates that level playing field. But there’s going to be some advantages for some, and some disadvantages for others.”
That could come into play during recruiting, although “the new policy preserves the fact college sports are not pay-for-play,” said a statement by Division II Presidents Council Chair Sandra Jordan. But if one school offers more robust endorsement opportunities, that could play a role in a recruit’s decision process.
“I think this is another dimension on which schools, athletic departments and coaches will compete in terms of recruiting and acquisition of players,” Mr. Conway said. “Each university, so they choose, will say, ‘We have an aspect of our athletic department, resources, people, to help you do this. Both to reach the value, but also to do it within the rules.’”
The NCAA allows schools to assist athletes in finding NIL partnerships, but the organization doesn’t encourage such a practice, highlighting the fine line between providing assistance and a pay-for-play setup. NIL agreements with boosters are also allowed, so long as “the activity is in accordance with state laws and school policy, is not an impermissible inducement and it does not constitute pay-for-play,” a release read.
Some athletes have already announced endorsement deals or trademark concepts. Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz became the first college athlete to announce a trademark concept in a video Monday. Boomin Iowa Fireworks announced that Iowa basketball player Jordan Bohannon will sign autographs and raffle off memorabilia at an event Thursday.
Maryland has long prepared for NIL procedures, unveiling a program in February called MOMENTUM in partnership with Opendorse, an athlete marketing company. Mr. Evans said the first step in College Park will be educating the student-athletes on what is allowed under the NIL rules while providing financial literacy. The athletic department will distribute the university’s own NIL guidelines to their student-athletes in the “near future,” Mr. Evans said.
The ruling to allow college athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness was expected, as pressure had increasingly grown in recent years. California pushed the NIL opportunities into focus with the Fair Pay to Play Act in 2019. Many states have since followed. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of athletes in the NCAA v. Alston case last week, which focused on education-related benefits for athletes.
Wednesday’s NIL ruling seems to be the inevitable result of that pressure, finally breaking through the NCAA’s long-held resistance.
“From where I sit, I’m not surprised at where we are today,” Mr. Evans said. “We all knew it was coming, and if we didn’t, then we’re blind. But I think what we have to do is embrace the change and understand where we are today but anticipate future changes coming.”
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