Video: NCAA moving towards athlete compensation
It appears the NCAA is finally doing the right thing with the best interests of the student athletes in mind.
The NCAA Board of Governors is moving toward allowing student athlete compensation to allow them to be paid for sponsorships and endorsement deals based on their NIL (name, image, likeness) as early as the 2021-22 academic year.
The Board of Governors announced their support after a working group proposed the changes at a meeting on Tuesday, which was announced and made public on Wednesday. The recommendations, if chosen, would allow student athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness (NIL) from deals with third parties and businesses. The new rules would go into effect to begin the 2021-22 academic season if the NCAA passes legislation in January 2021.
“Throughout our efforts to enhance support for college athletes, the NCAA has relied upon considerable feedback from and the engagement of our members, including numerous student-athletes, from all three divisions,” Ohio State president Michael V. Drake said. “Allowing promotions and third-party endorsements is uncharted territory.”
While this isn't the final step, it's a huge first step in the right direction that will directly benefit the student athletes in what has been an ongoing battle the past decade or so. It recently picked up steam over the past year or so, and was almost forced to be discussed once the NBA adopted a route for high schooler's to bypass college altogether and head straight to the G-League by signing semi-lucrative one-year contracts.
Part of the recommendations by the Board of Governors, athletes will be allowed to sell autographs and memorabilia and be paid for personal appearances at public or private events — but they are not allowed to wear school-branded apparel when appearing. If they chose this route, financial terms of each agreement/contract must be disclosed to their respective athletic departments and any relationships with parties involved. If the terms are not shared, it could potentially affect eligibility.
The recommendations also allow athletes to hire agents for the sole purpose of finding them marketing deals — but cannot in anyway seek information from professional sports opportunities. Athletes are also banned from endorsing products that are banned substances by the NCAA.
There are many wrinkles still to be worked out, most notably the acceptance of money from boosters as long as it doesn't affect a recruit's decision on where to attend college. But there it s still plenty of time to work out those finite details and get them approved come January.
While there is still a long way to go in this process, this is the first and arguably most important step in the process.