NCAA Clears College Athletes To Profit

Columbia Daily Spectator

BY CLARA ENCE MORSE

JULY 2, 2021

It’s a brave new world out there for student-athletes across the nation. On Thursday, a new NCAA policy went into effect that allows college athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness without losing their competition eligibility.

The decision, which was approved at a Wednesday afternoon meeting, will newly allow Columbia athletes to maintain their eligibility even if they seek to profit from a wide range of business ventures, from social media promotion of companies like Bumble to partnerships with local restaurants. The new regulations still explicitly prohibit both “pay-for-play” payment from schools to student-athletes and “impermissible recruiting inducements,” according to an Ivy League press release, as well as commercial deals that are directly linked to performance. The Ivy League adjusted its policies on Thursday morning to offer Ancient Eight athletes their rights to publicity.

“These changes to the landscape of intercollegiate athletics bring contemporary opportunities—in and beyond sports—to our ambitious and innovative student-athletes and are now more closely aligned with similar potential endeavors available to all students,” Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris said in a press release. “I strongly encourage our student-athletes to be patient and prudent as these first-time experiences become available, because this is an evolving and complex situation.”

The NCAA’s decision comes after the passage of NIL laws in 23 states, some of which went into effect on July 1. No bill regarding NIL has passed yet in New York, but colleges and universities in states without NIL legislation can follow NCAA regulations mandating that athletes cannot receive benefits such as pay without giving services, and schools cannot get involved in creating opportunities for their athletes.

The decision comes over a week after the Supreme Court struck down portions of the NCAA’s prohibitions on student-athlete compensation, ruling that schools could not limit academic-related benefits to student-athletes.

“I think the NCAA is starting to recognize that the game they’ve been playing for over a century is ending,” David Berri, a sports economist from Southern Utah University, said. “They’ve gotten away with it for a very long time, but I think that’s ending. … [The NCAA is] making the changes because [the NCAA is] being made to make the change.”

The NCAA has long held a strict “amateurism” policy, which barred student-athletes from being able to license their NIL or be compensated for the revenue that athletics generate for a school, except through athletic scholarships—a policy which has long been the subject of controversy.

As a member of the Ivy League, Columbia faces unique pressures. It does not offer athletic scholarships to its athletes and draws much less revenue from its sports programs than many Division I schools in other leagues, meaning most Columbia athletes do not have the kind of celebrity presence and endorsement potential that star quarterbacks at the University of Alabama or gymnasts at Louisiana State University gymnasts do, for example. However, the policy will still shape the lives of many Columbia athletes, providing them with new and rewarding opportunities. Columbia soccer alumna and former Student-Athlete Advisory Council co-president Cayla Davis, CC ’21, said the policy would be empowering to student-athletes.

“As momentum’s built, it’s becoming more and more apparent how this could potentially help student-athletes at large and small institutions,” Davis said. “[For] student-athletes with big followings, but also student-athletes who are really valuable members of their local community, [it would] give [them] something in return.”

Columbia athletes have publicly spoken out in favor of student-athlete rights to publicity in the past, including former Light Blue wide receiver and team captain Josh Wainwright, CC ’21, who participated in multiple entrepreneurial endeavors outside of football to make extra money.

“That’s obviously something that every college athlete wants, to be compensated for their likeness, especially for the big sports like football, baseball, and basketball,” Wainwright told Spectator in October 2019. However, he went on to note that the passage of NIL laws would not have ultimately impacted his decision to play for Columbia. “I don’t think it would have impacted me to the point where I would have completely shut myself off to other schools just to make a little bit of extra money. I still probably would have taken my best option, which was definitely Columbia.”

In a September 2019 interview with Spectator, Athletic Director Peter Piling declined to take a position on a California bill that was later passed into law and guaranteed NIL rights to all California college athletes. However, he said matters get “complicated” with events like jersey sales and signing parties and with the Ivy League’s unique scholarship situation.

“What happens when we don’t give athletic scholarships? How do you delineate there? I think that whole component of it makes it a little bit different,” Pilling said. “I don’t know how it affects scholarships versus schools that don’t give scholarships.”

Columbia Athletics declined to comment on the NCAA Supreme Court decision and did not return a request for comment regarding the new NIL regulations.

Davis said that in her time on the SAAC, students discussed the possibility of NIL rights, although it did not seem tangible at the time. Although athletes were interested in the possibility of Chipotle or Bumble partnerships, “it was more joking than anything,” Davis said. “A lot of us didn’t really think that this was going to happen.”

But now, Davis said, student-athletes can benefit from their followings. Although it likely would not have influenced her decision to come to Columbia, she said, she would have loved to take advantage of NIL policies if she were still a student-athlete.

“The fact that the NCAA controlled your name, image, and likeness was just … a little bit more of a powerless position,” Davis said. “Now, student-athletes can feel a little bit more in control of their image and likeness, and they can use that how they see fit. … I’m just really excited for those student-athletes to be able to pursue that opportunity that they didn’t have before.”

Sports Editor Clara Ence Morse can be contacted at clara.encemorse@columbiaspectator.com. Follow her on Twitter @ccemorse.