Name, image, and likeness (NIL) has become a hotly contested issue in college athletics in recent years. More and more players feel they should be able to profit on their NIL, which hasn’t been possible over the past few decades. As Gregory Michael Steinberg highlights, this shouldn’t have to be difficult.
Before diving into how they can do this, it’s worth looking at what NIL actually is, how it relates to college athletics, and everything else you need to know about it. While it might appear complicated at first, it’s much simpler than most people expect.
What is NIL in College Athletics?
So, what actually is NIL? Gregory Michael Steinberg notes short for name, image, and likeness, it relates to an athlete’s right to publicity and how they’re seen in the media. It focuses on how their names, images, and likenesses are used in various media. Broadcasts and video games are some of the more notable of these.
It protects them from misuses of their NIL, and gives them some control over how they’re publicly represented. Commercial promotion is the most notable factor in this, with college athletes wanting a greater level of control over this.
How Students Can Monetize Their NIL
Most of the debates around NIL focuses on whether college athletes should profit on their names, images, and likenesses, which is something they’ve been pushing for for years. So, how can they actually do that? It’s much simpler than many of the arguments might make it seem.
The easiest way they can do this is through sponsorships and deals with brands to use a player’s NIL. College athletes can negotiate a fair price for this usage, with the payment often coming up front. Then there are the recurring payments and royalties they can see from broadcasts, video games, and other media.
It’s a much more profitable area than many people suggest, according to Gregory Michael Steinberg.
What’s Next?
The NCAA and other organizations and federal agencies have been working on NIL with college athletes for quite some time. Most of this focuses on whether college athletes should actually profit from it, with control of their publicity being one of the more contested topics. That’s been the case for quite some time.
So, what’s actually next? It looks as though college athletes will get more and more control over their names, images, and likenesses, as well as profit from their usage. They should also gain greater control of what actually happens with their NIL, which hasn’t been the case for quite some time.
College athletes will have a much greater say over everything, which only seems fair notes Gregory Michael Steinberg.
Wrapping Up
NIL continues to be a hotly contested issue, and it looks to keep being this way for quite some time. Arguments on either side of the debate can be made, but that doesn’t mean college athletes shouldn’t profit on their name, image, and likeness.
As Gregory Michael Steinberg, the arguments don’t need to be difficult to understand, and it’s a simpler concept than most people realize. It shouldn’t take too much time to wrap your head around.