Report: NCAA Set to Make Progress with Name, Image, Likeness Proposal
Tuesday afternoon the NCAA held a board meeting in regards to allowing student-athletes to be paid for endorsements and/or sponsorships, ESPN reports. In recent months there has been more and more discussion on paying student-athletes, gaining traction in states like California and Florida who have both instituted legislation allowing it to be possible.
One of the issues with individual state legislatures creating their own rules and regulations in regards to student-athlete payment is that the lack of continuity creates an unfair advantage for states that do allow it versus those who do not. As it stands, states that have enacted "Fair Pay to Play" (FPTP) laws would be ineligible to participate in events such as the College Football Playoffs. This is why in California the proposed FPTP laws will not be enacted until the year 2023. They were made as a way to pressure the NCAA towards taking a step in the right direction.
Another dilemma with current NIL propositions is the lack of knowledge/awareness in Congress of this issue. As SI's own Ross Dellenger reported, it is estimated only 100 of the 535 members of congress are familiar with the issue. While that is a huge improvement over just a handful a year ago, the awareness level most certainly needs to increase if any reform were to occur.
Most importantly, the NCAA is taking steps in the right direction. Although the NCAA itself is far from popular with fans and players alike, the importance of having one end all be all legislation in favor of allowing student-athlete compensation is immense. These propositions would provide guidelines for over 1200 institutions as opposed to the absolute mess that having individual state legislation creates.
The details of the said meeting have not yet been released but we can expect that they will be in regards to Name, Image, and Likeness or NIL. If this eventually gets passed, players would be able to have sponsorships or endorsements at the college level as long as they did not conflict with the University's endorsement contracts.
Hopefully, this will allow for players like "Hot Rod" Rodrigo Blankenship to profit off as much Hot Rod merchandise as fans would buy, and trust me, they'd buy a lot. It may be too late for him unfortunately as he heads to the NFL, but I am sure we will see some "Zeus" merch pretty soon.
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