September 10, 2020

A Senior Leader's Guide To Navigating Names, Images and Likenesses Quagmire-A Former Chair of the NCAA Presidents' Council Clarifies The Complexities

34 minutes

"This may be the most significant development for athlete's economic rights in our lifetime"- Walt Harrison, former chair of the NCAA President's Council.

Your athletic program is about to look very different.

Simply put, some of your athletes on campus are about to elevate their brand (and their income) while playing for your school. What that will look like is being hotly debated right now, with many groups weighing in (including asking for Congressional intervention). College Athletics at all levels will soon look very different once "Names, Images and Likenesses" is fully implemented nationwide.

Affecting all NCAA and NAIA divisions, it's important for those who aspire to be a campus senior leader to understand what this means, how this works, and the massive compliance issues at play.

My guest today will walk us through the issues, the need for external oversight, and the position of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, a long time advocate for academic changes and fiscal responsibility. Joining our conversation, and representing the KCIA, is President Emeritus of the University of Hartford, Dr. Walter Harrison.

Many of my listeners know this topic has been quite controversial. In Fall of 2019, California became the first state to pass legislation to permit college athletes to get “paid” (if you will) for their brand on social media platforms, teaching sport skills, and other things that regular college students were permitted to do.

Now, the NCAA is “on the clock”, and is under great pressure to design a solution that doesn’t create a “pay for play” recruiting situation. It is a challenging proposition. How will your school adapt?

Here are the 5 basic principles of fairness as proposed by the Knight Commission, and referenced in the discussion:

1. Fairness to Athletes as Students

2. Informing Athletes on NIL Rights

3. Oversight of NIL Rights

4. Guardrails for NIL Rights

5. National uniformity.

Beginning on September 16, the KCIA will host a series of four virtual forums titled "Transforming the Division I Model". Registration is now open.

Full disclosure: I served as a researcher to the KCIA this summer.

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By Dr. Karen Weaver

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