We recently discussed a number of updates in the world of name, image and likeness (NIL) rights. Among those recent developments was the signing by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp of an executive order that, inter alia, prohibited the NCAA and athletic conferences from taking “adverse action” against Georgia schools for directly compensating their athletes for NIL.
As 2024 comes to a close, permutations in the arena of name, image and likeness (NIL) impacting collegiate athletics continue unabated.
Most prominently, Northern District of California District Judge Claudia Wilken preliminarily approved the proposed settlement agreement to resolve the trio of pending antitrust cases known colloquially as Carter, House, and Hubbard. While a number of judicial hurdles must be cleared before the settlement is finalized and implemented, Judge Wilken’s ruling is a significant step toward a new system of rules and athlete compensation for collegiate athletics.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has historically been afforded a wide berth to implement and enforce its rules under the auspices of protecting the “revered tradition of amateurism” in college athletics. For decades, it relied on this principle as a means to enforce its prohibition on college athletes receiving compensation when faced with legal challenges and public calls for reform.
Developments in the world of name, image and likeness (NIL) rights continue to occur at an extremely swift pace.
Within the last two weeks, Virginia amended its existing NIL laws to significantly strengthen student-athlete NIL rights, and the NCAA adopted new NIL rules designed to allow schools to support student-athlete NIL endeavors. The NCAA also relaxed the NIL disclosure requirement adopted in January and announced it had selected Teamworks Innovations to build and maintain its NIL database.
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