For Halloween lovers, the spooky season began in October. But for college athletes looking to monetize their name, image and likeness, the spooky season began about three years ago.
If you keep up with headlines about college sports, you know that there's a boiling cauldron of horror stories related to names, image rights, and publicity rights for college athletes. 1 quarterback He quit the team midway through an undefeated season. About the unfulfilled promise of name, image, and likeness. There's a lawsuit going on High school recruits never get the deals they were promised.. Lately, questions have arisen as to what constitutes that. “Payday Loan” Type Deals Offered to Star Student-Athletes.
And a cottage industry of ghouls has emerged, stalking talented but inexperienced young stars. Instead of helping student-athletes make good choices about their education, when to turn pro, and which deals to accept or decline, opportunists simply focus on how to separate student-athletes from money. Just there. And the complete lack of rules around name, image and likeness transactions makes it all too easy.
It is possible that Congress could resolve the issue, but I am not confident that Congress will prioritize this issue.
To be sure, the NCAA may propose more meaningful consumer protections, but so far the NCAA is focused on its own survival.
And indeed, legal settlements House of Representatives vs. NCAA — If approved, it could create the first real rules for athlete rights deals. But it is not enough to address the murky issues surrounding what constitutes a contract and exactly what NIL “collectives” can negotiate with players.
So who can stop more Halloween horror stories? We'll find our hero, a lawyer, in an unexpected place.
State attorneys general, from both sides of the political spectrum, are among the only leaders who have pushed the NCAA out of its comfort zone. They helped eliminate exercise restrictions for second-time transfer students. They established that athletes have economic rights to name, image, and likeness rights. Ohio vs. NCAA. It also protected schools' rights to support such agreements. Tennessee vs. NCAA.
This pressure must continue for the sake of the players. We will not tolerate what amounts to a loosely organized fraud against high school athletes, and we should not tolerate this behavior against college athletes either.
As head of consumer protection, the Attorney General has the power to compel institutions, associations and coaches to fulfill their commitments. They force contracts to be fairer and clearer. And it could push the authors of these student-athlete horror stories into the shadows.
Athletes spend dozens of hours a week in their school athletic programs, and in return they deserve rewards, not tricks.
Robert Boland (rboland@shumaker.com) Games, Hospitality, Entertainment and Sports Law Program Seton Hall method and As an attorney at the Shumaker Law Firm, I represent organizations, organizations, brands, and athletes. he used to He served as director of athletics integrity at Penn State University.
