The NCAA adopted an interim policy that will allow college athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness, ahead of legislation going into effect in several states which would allow for such compensation.
“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 expected approval from the NCAA Board of Directors came a few days after a recommendation from the Division I Council to allow athletes in every state to pursue compensation for their name, image and likeness without jeopardizing their college eligibility.
The NCAA’s decision to suspend restrictions on payments to athletes for things such as sponsorship deals, online endorsements and personal appearances applies to all three divisions or some 460,000 athletes.
While I acknowledge that this will change college athletics forever, it is just Unamerican to not allow adults to engage in a legal commercial exchange. For the vast majority of college athletes, there is no financial future for them in sport. A few will make a professional league, but even that is limited to a handful of sports that have professional leagues. And, let’s be real, this only impacts the best of the best in any sport.
But I just don’t have a philosophical problem with a star tennis player getting paid to do ads for the local car dealership or get a slice of the pie when the school profits off selling something with their face on it.
This going to be opening Pandora’s box.
Do athletes being paid have to be even between women and men? Will Title 9 be affected by this?
What will be the going pay rate? Should the star athlete getting money be required to also perform some educational activities, like going to class or even staying 4 years and graduating?
What if the player getting money is injured, can the college stop paying him? If the athlete doesn’t play up to expectations, can the college not pay them?
If the player transfers to another college or quits school, can the college stop playing.
We are now going to create a small set of super teams that can afford to pay players vs the other 95% schools (my estimate)that cannot afford to?
Then the morale issue: the star running back and quarterback gets paid but the guards and tackles protecting them do not?
The high scorer in basketball gets paid but the guard getting the assists do not?
And so many more questions.
Good questions, Mar.
There are going to be an awful lot of hard feelings as this all shakes out.
Since athletes are already receiving NIL counseling I would assume that the NCAA, and higher education in general, saw this coming. Whatever rules the NCAA comes up with will be challenged immediately from every direction. For the near future the bean counters and lawyers will be the most important people in any decision making room.
NCAA amateurism has been a sham for 50 years .
SMU paid the vast majority of their players including tackles and guards and did it so blatantly that even the NCAA figured it out .
Our college football manager was the chap who put Reggie Bush’s parents up in luxury no rent accommodation and then paid the Saints bounty on players .
Now Reggie wants his Heisman back
This move just brings the money into the spotlight .
How many Ron Dane jerseys did UW sell while he played there and how much did he get as his take ?
The NCAA will be dead in a few years as Power 5 programs move away from the current model and set up their own playoff systems in Football and Basketball .
Who needs a middle man when teams can split the NCAA’s cut ?
You’re right, MHMaley, it is a scam in many programs. Here in Arizona, it was so bad, an assistant coach is probably going to jail for the bribery.
And scams are just not in athletics, look at the scam where the middle man was paid thousands to bribe coaches to get their spoiled little brats into good schools.
And in reality, college is a scam also. Forcing student to buy the professor’s books, pay fees for things they don’t use all for the privilege of being brainwashed.