NCAA student athletes NIL overview:
Who: The NCAA Division I Board directed its council to come up with ways it can help student athletes who are confused about the process of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) contracts.
Why: Student athletes across NCAA Division I, II and III are eligible for NIL contracts.
Where: NIL contracts affect student athletes nationwide.
The NCAA Division I Board directed its council to find ways to help student athletes who are confused with navigating Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) contracts.
The board made the direction after a working group consisting of 10 Division I student athletes and 24 administrators determined navigating NIL contracts can lead to confusion, Law360 reports.
“We heard loud and clear that student athletes are not always certain about what to look for in NIL contracts, and we hope to establish clear rules that help student athletes navigate these deals to better — and more safely — capitalize on their NIL potential,” Lynda Tealer, chair of the Division I Council and the working group, says in a statement.
The NCAA has previously been hesitant to be the primary rulemaker for NIL contracts, instead attempting to assign the job to Congress, Law360 reports.
NCAA asks working group to create NIL recommendations
The NCAA tasked the working group to come up with recommendations for how the organization’s Division I member schools should handle NIL contract issues.
It is in the process of drafting proposals it plans to present to the council in October, Law360 reports. These reportedly include creating a registration process for NIL service providers, such as financial advisers, agents and NIL sponsors, and a standard contract or standard contract terms that would include a fee structure.
The council will also create a disclosure process as a way to maintain transparency about the NIL process and activities, Law360 reports.
“The working group and the NCAA fully support student athletes profiting from their NIL,” Tealer says in a statement. “The message was clear from the stakeholders that the association should develop reasonable protections that increase transparency without limiting student athletes’ NIL opportunities.”
In other news involving NIL contracts, a group of NCAA athletes last October asked a California federal judge to certify several classes of athletes seeking to end restrictions put in place by the NCAA that limits their ability to profit off of their NIL while still in school.