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NCAA: Student-athletes can profit from their names, likenesses

California’s newly-passed “Fair Pay to Play Act” has now inspired change from the NCAA itself to the benefit of student-athletes.

By JimSavell
NCAA Women’s Final Four - National Championship
The Baylor Lady Bears celebrate with the NCAA trophy following their 82-81 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the championship game of the 2019 NCAA Women’s Final Four on April 7, 2019 in Tampa, Florida.
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

The NCAA voted on Tuesday to allow college athletes to profit from their names, likenesses and images “in a manner consistent with the collegiate model. The new rules affect all three divisions of college sports and are expected to be implemented by January 2021.

This move comes on the heels of California’s newly-passed “Fair Pay to Play Act” as well an increasing number of states looking to pass similar laws. Congress is also examining ways for collegiate athletes to profit from their likenesses. The debate over amateur likeness heated up with the 2015 lawsuit against the NCAA and Electronic Arts over the NCAA football and basketball video game franchise’s use of player likenesses without permission or compensation.

A lot of questions are sure to be asked over the next year. How the NCAA handles the answers to those questions will have significant impact on an institution that has been taken to task over many issues by the public as well as by the federal government.

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