On April 29, 2020, the NCAA Board of Governors supported rules changes to allow student-athletes to have opportunities to receive compensation for third-party endorsements. And on July 1, 2021, the NCAA finally approved and finalized the ruling and for the first time in history, collegiate student-athletes are allowed to earn compensation on their own name, image and likeness deals.
Student-athletes have many opportunities to earn compensation, if they so choose. For many of the bigger and more valuable deals, student-athletes will need to look into having an agent or third party involved in this operation. It will be difficult for student-athletes to negotiate deals with businesses, sponsors and other entities without having any experience in this type of business.
In addition, compliance offices are now busier than ever trying to manage the influx of questions about NIL ahead of the 2021-22 academic year. It will be important for student-athletes to know that compliance offices will have some answers, but not all. University employees won’t be able to help student-athletes negotiate deals or help find opportunities; the compliance office can only regulate per the NCAA’s evolving ruling.
Male and female athletes will have the same rules, guardrails and regulations provided by the NCAA. Everyone will be on the same playing field and level. Student-athletes will all have the general opportunity to earn compensation for their name, image and likeness, but the number and value of opportunities will vary immensely. There are many factors involved with how and why student-athletes could receive more money than others.
I conducted an ample amount of research in June of 2020, and I realized that there will not be a general framework for student-athletes to follow. There is not a model that can be replicated for each athlete’s situation. Every athlete’s situation and opportunity for compensation will be different.
The NCAA has a tall task ahead. I do believe the implementation of these new rules is moving the collegiate athletic experience in the right direction, but there will be a lot learning along the way. In addition, the NCAA has not had the reputation for “sticking to their guns”.
“For decades, the NCAA and its members considered cost-of-attendance stipends anathema to amateurism. And then they didn’t. That pretty much describes the NCAA attitude toward amateurism throughout its 115-year history.” (Maisel, 2020).
Student-athletes have already shown what the power of social media brings to the table. The name, image and likeness ruling will help out student-athletes who have major numbers in followers but don’t go to a Power Five school.
“For example, Phoenix Sproles is a wide receiver at North Dakota State University and has 147 thousand followers on Instagram and Tik Tok, which is by definition an “influencer/star status” (Cousin, 2020).
The power lies with the student-athletes. The problems come as the NCAA will attempt to regulate the opportunities to comply with Title IX rules and keep things fair, which isn’t totally a bad thing. It will just be difficult.
There are so many factors that go into student-athletes compensation opportunities:
-Institution
-Sport played
-Social media followers
-Geographical location of school
-Competition with other schools
Let’s not forget that student-athletes will have to file taxes on the money they earn.
“We have discussed the impact of name, image and likeness in our director’s meeting, but we didn’t even think about the tax implications,” said Jeff Pritsker, Assistant Athletic Director for Business and Administration at San Jose State University (Davis, 2020).
An example of how this would work with student-athletes includes a student-athlete receiving a car from a dealership for a year after appearing in commercials. As with any normal taxpayer, a return must be filed if a student-athlete makes $400 from self-employment.
This will also get messy when a student-athlete is from one state, but attends a school in a different state.
“For example, a student-athlete from a high school in Georgia (which has a state income tax) enrolls at a university in Florida (which does not) and plays for the football team. He receives free meals from a restaurant in Florida in exchange for endorsing the business. If the athlete is still considered a Georgia resident by that state’s laws, the benefit is considered income subject to Georgia’s state income tax even though the activity took place in Florida” (Davis, 2020).
This is going to get crazy.
MAGGIE PRUITT 