NCAA board approves athlete compensation

New rules will allow players to get paid for name, image, likeness

The NCAA took a major step Tuesday toward allowing college athletes to cash in on their fame, voting to permit them to “benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness.”

The nation’s largest governing body for college sports and its member schools now must figure out how to allow athletes to profit — something they have fought against doing for years — while still maintaining rules regarding amateurism. The NCAA Board of Governors, meeting at Emory University in Atlanta, directed each of the NCAA’s three divisions to create the necessary new rules immediately and have them in place no later than January 2021.

Board chair Michael Drake, the president of Ohio State University, said the NCAA must embrace change and modernize “to provide the best possible experience for college athletes.”

But such changes will come with limitations, he said.

“The board is emphasizing that change must be consistent with the values of college sports and higher education and not turn student-athletes into employees of institutions,” Drake told The Associated Press.

The Journal’s attempts to reach athletic directors Eddie Nuñez at New Mexico and Mario Moccia at New Mexico

State were unsuccessful on Tuesday. In a story earlier this month, each wanted to wait for the recommendations of the group of NCAA administrators. That group since May has been exploring ways athletes could be allowed to receive compensation for the use of their names, images and likenesses.

The group, led by Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman, presented a status report Tuesday to the university presidents who make up the Board of Governors.

Smith and Ackerman’s group laid out principles and guidelines, endorsed by the board, to be followed as NCAA members go about crafting new rules and tweaking existing ones.

Some college sports leaders fear allowing athletes to earn outside income could open the door to corruption.

“One of the most distinctive things about college sports is this whole recruitment process,” NCAA President Mark Emmert told the AP. “The whole notion of trying to maintain as fair a playing field as you can is really central to all this. And using sponsorship arrangements, in one way or another, as recruiting inducements is something everybody is deeply concerned about.”

Ackerman and Smith said the challenges lie in determining what regulations need to be set in place; what markets athletes should be allowed to access; what entities and individuals they should be permitted to work with; and whether the schools themselves could provide funds to athletes through licensing deals.

The NCAA’s move came a month after California passed a law that would make it illegal for NCAA schools to prohibit college athletes from making money on endorsements, autograph signings and social media advertising, among other activities.

“California has made it clear that we won’t accept any arbitrary limitations on college athletes’ right to their name, image, and likeness,” state Sen. Nancy Skinner, who co-sponsored the bill, posted in Twitter.

The California law goes into effect in 2023. More than a dozen states have followed with similar legislation, some of which could be on the books as soon as next year.

Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, said Tuesday he plans to move forward in full support of legislation proposed by Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque, to pass a name, image, likeness rights law in New Mexico for college athletes.

“It’s great that the NCAA is doing something, but frankly they’ve had enough time to act. They’ve had like 35 years — ever since Brian Bosworth wore that shirt at the (1987) Orange Bowl (critical of the NCAA not allowing athletes to share in revenues). So, I don’t trust that they’ll really go through with anything.

“I’m going to support Sen. Moores’ initiative and urge the Governor to get it on the call this (upcoming) session.”