NIL Conversation Continues

Formal name, image and likeness legislation could come quickly to the NCAA. A working council is drafting up recommendations for student-athletes to be paid for those rights that could be approved today and voted on for formal adoption as early as January. 

An early draft of the legislation touches on a number of contested issues, such as whether athletes could use school logos in sponsored content and how agents will be allowed to help athletes procure deals, according to SI. Federal legislation is also being drawn up, including a recent bipartisan bill to protect the NCAA from lawsuits.

Beyond NIL, a Knight Commission survey of college athletics leaders also found three-fourths of respondents believe the NCAA needs major, immediate reform. The survey also found more than half of Power 5 administrators support breaking away from the NCAA Division I and creating a new division for Power 5 conferences with the exception of basketball.

Knight Commission Survey Takeaways: 

• 22% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the current NCAA March Madness model, which distributes a portion of revenues from the tournament to all Division I member institutions each year.
• 25% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the College Football Playoff model, in which FBS schools receive a portion of revenues from the lucrative postseason — run separately from the NCAA.