Could College Athletes be Compensated for Likeness?

*This piece first appeared in the Front Office Sports Newsletter. Subscribe today and get the news before anyone else.

NCAA Football might be coming back to gaming consoles sooner rather than later.

Thanks to an announcement from the NCAA, the governing body is looking into ways it can modify its rules to allow college athletes to be compensated for their names, images and likenesses.

What do you need to know? 

1. Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith will head up the working group exploring the options.

2. Including Ackerman and Smith, the working group will have 19 members.

3. The group will not consider any concepts that could be construed as payment for participation in college sports. 

4. The group will present a final report to the Board of Governors in October, with an update provided in August.

Why now?

While a solid reason for why the timing of this decision was not given, it’s no secret that the NCAA has been under fire for quite some time in regards to this very topic.

In fact, although the decision in the Alston Case didn’t end in free-market compensation sought by the plaintiffs, Judge Claudia Wilken noted that many of the “benefits” already being received by college athletes are equal “pay for play,” according to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports.

What are they saying?

“We believe the time is right for these discussions and look forward to a thorough assessment of the many complexities involved in this area.” – Val Ackerman, Big East Commissioner

“While the formation of this group is an important step to confirming what we believe as an association, the group’s work will not result in paying students as employees.” – Gene Smith, Ohio State Athletic Director