In Short
The Situation: Beginning July 1, 2021,
student-athletes are permitted to earn compensation from activities
involving their name, image, and likeness ("NIL"). While
universities in a handful of states are bound by the provisions of
state NIL laws that recently took effect, the NCAA's interim
policy provides broad discretion for schools in the vast majority
of states to draft and implement their own NIL rules.
The Result: Schools adopting NIL policies
must develop a thoughtful approach for handling a plethora of
issues, ranging from the degree of university involvement in
facilitating student-athlete NIL deals to potential conflicts with
university sponsorship agreements.