Nearly four years since the NCAA appropriately decided that student-athletes should be free to receive compensation for their names, images and likenesses (NIL), the landscape of college athletics has been profoundly transformed by the absence of clear, firm rules about those opportunities.
Virginia recently has moved to bring order to the chaos with a law that should protect students and ensure stronger oversight in a previously untamed environment. Other states looking to do the same — and Congress, which has dithered on the issue — would do well to follow the commonwealth’s lead and adopt similar models.
For years, the NCAA only allowed athletes to receive scholarships in exchange for their performance, and harshly punished students and institutions that violated its view of amateur competition. However, as revenues increased, particularly in college football, it made sense that those investing the sweat should also share in the rewards.
In 2019, California passed a law that prohibited schools from punishing athletes for receiving compensation beyond scholarships. The NCAA decried that measure, but eventually began developing a plan to regulate the structure of sponsorship deals as best it could given its declining power over college athletics.
What followed was, and is, a mess. In the absence of a unified approach to regulation, many states passed competing rules outlining what was acceptable and what was not. It led to a proliferation of groups outside of colleges raising money to pay college athletes, creating a bidding war for the top players in football and basketball, primarily.
It hasn’t been all bad. Plenty of college stars are able to earn decent compensation for their NIL while competing on the field and working in the classroom. Some of those bringing home the largest hauls are outside those revenue-generating men’s sports, including women gymnasts and women basketball players.
But it’s also clear to everyone — conference officials, school leaders and fans — that things need to change. Allowing unregulated outside groups to wield considerable influence over where athletes attend college is ripe for abuse, and schools struggle to look out for their players when they lack the power to do so.
“The risk is permanent damage to an enterprise that has meant an awful lot to our country, and to those that have benefited from the experiences,” Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner James Phillips said in December. That’s a warning that resonates in the commonwealth, since the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech both compete in the ACC.
Commissioners such as Phillips want Congress to pass legislation that would nationalize the approach to NIL, leveling the playing field across the country. It would end the state-by-state rules enacted as schools and their fan bases press their lawmakers to give them an edge in high-stakes recruiting battles.
In the absence of congressional action, however, Virginia’s General Assembly this year adopted a law that could serve as a model for a national remedy.
The legislation is the first to allow colleges and universities to operate NIL collectives in-house rather than relying on outside groups. It specifies that no student fees can be used to provide additional benefits to players. And it will allow athletic departments to have greater control over sponsorships, which should protect students from bad actors operating in the NIL space.
It also made Virginia the first state to prohibit the NCAA from punishing schools for providing NIL compensation directly to athletes. It may give commonwealth schools an advantage in the short term, but the larger goal is to prod Washington into action.
“If this law gets us closer to a federal or a national solution for college athletics then it will be more than worthwhile,” University of Virginia Athletic Director Carla Williams said at a bill signing event featuring Gov. Glenn Youngkin, university officials and coaches, and school mascots from commonwealth schools.
NIL can be a great benefit to student-athletes, universities and fans who enjoy college sports, but only if it’s managed thoughtfully. Virginia has shown the way and Congress should follow.
