NIL All
July 1, 2021 will be known in the history books as the day that college athletics changed forever due to the NIL or Name, Image and Likeness adoption by the NCAA and several U.S. states including Ohio and Kentucky.
NIL means that collegiate athletes can be paid for the use of the name and/or an image of them playing their sport. Endorsements from for profit companies can range from paid appearances, private training sessions with youth, autographs, social media posts and more. Financial experts are forecasting that the new NIL market will be valued at more than one billion dollars in the next few years. Top collegiate quarterbacks could make more than $1 million a year in deals.
“As NIL deals roll out between brands and college athletes, it will be interesting to see this new billion dollar market emerge,” said Jackie Reau, CEO of Game Day, a media and marketing agency who has been studying the effects of NIL as it relates to sports business. “On July 1, 500,000 plus student athletes are on the market for endorsement and marketing deals.”
On Monday, June 28, Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order to allow student-athletes to profit off their own name, image and likeness, with the support of the state’s collegiate athletic leaders. DeWine joined Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, who the previous week issued an executive order of his own to put Kentucky’s own name, image and likeness executive order in place.
On July 1, these orders went into effect, finally allowing student-athletes to monetize their NIL. States are making individual decisions on the NIL issue, so those that don’t allow student-athletes to earn money this way are at a disadvantage in competitive recruitment.
Click to visit a website to track state-by-state progress of NIL legislation.
NIL laws in effect
Immediately
Oklahoma (schools can grant rights immediately, but no later than July 1, 2023)
Nebraska (schools can grant rights immediately, but no later than July 1, 2023)
July 1
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
Mississippi
New Mexico
Texas
Kentucky
Ohio
July 23
Arizona
September 1
Connecticut
January 1, 2022
Arkansas
Tennessee
Nevada
July 1, 2022
South Carolina
December 31, 2022
Michigan
January 1, 2023
California (there’s currently a proposal to move up the date to no later than 1/1/22)
Colorado
June 1, 2023
Montana
July 1, 2023
Maryland
2025
New Jersey (the law goes into effect the 5th academic year after passage)
Game Day Communications has been aggressively researching what NIL rules will mean for recruits and for present student-athletes. Game Day CEO Jackie Reau is available to talk about the implications of the rules, and how student-athletes can prepare to make themselves more marketable with social media strategies, media training and the like:
Background:
Thursday, July 1 is the magic date for these orders to go into effect. That's because a slew of states, including Alabama, Georgia and Florida, have NIL laws that will take effect on that date. (here is a state tracker to show the progress of NIL legislation) https://businessofcollegesports.com/tracker-name-image-and-likeness-legislation-by-state.